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MA.IN'TJA.L
OF
MYTHOLOGY:
GREEK AND ROMAN,
NORSE, AND OLD GERMAN, HINDOO AND
EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY,
BY
ALEXANDER S. MURRAY,
DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM.
REPRINTED FROM THE SECOND REVISED LONDON EDITION.
J ' -^ i i J
REPRESENTING MOIiS THAN oo MYTHGLOGIC'VL SJCJECTS..
NEW YORK:
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, & CO.
1875.
B0ST03T:
Press of Eaxd, Avbrt. & Co.. 117 FRAXKLiy Street.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
Murray's Manual of Mythology has been known to the
American public thus far only through the English edition.
As originally published, the work was deficient in its account
of the Eastern and Northern Mxtholog}*; but with these
imperfections it secured a sale in this country which proved
that it more nearly supplied the want which had long been
felt of a compact hand-book in this study than did any other
similar work. The preface to the secona English edition
indicates the importactj additions to, and ck^^nges which have
been made in, the origioa^ worfci Chapters upon the North-
em and Eastern M\thology h^?7e ]?ee3> supplied ; the descrip-
tions of many of the 'Greek deities have been re-written ;
accounts of the most memorable works of art, in which each
deit}- is or was represented, have been added ; and a number
iii
IV PUBLISHERS NOTE.
of new illustrations have been inserted. This American
edition has been rejDrinted from the perfected work. Every
illustration given in the original has been carefully repro-
duced; and the new chapters upon Eastern and Northern
Mythology have been thoroughly revised by Prof. W. D.
Whitney, of Yale College, who has corrected some minor
inaccuracies which had escaped observation in the English
edition. The volume in its revised form is without a rival
among manuals upon this interesting subject. For the pur-
pose of a text-book in high schools and colleges, and a guide
to the art student or general reader, it will be found invalu-
able.
On" C
CONTENTS
PACB
Introduction i
Greek and Roman Mythology —
The Creation of the World ..... 22
Deities of the Highest Order .... 26
Inferior Deities . . . . , . .120
Demigods or Heroes ...... 200
Norse and Old German Mythology . . . 309
Mythology and Religion of the Hindoos —
The Vedic Gods 328
The Brah manic Gods . . '337
Mythology and Religion of Egypt . . .341
Index 353
vii
LIST OF PLATES.
Amazon: xxxiii., 268.
Andromeda: xxxii., 216.
Aphrodite (Venus) : viii., ix.,
xxviii., 77, 8^, 168.
Apollo: xi., 88, 96.
Ares (Mars): viii., xxviii.,
75, 168.
Ariadne: xvi., 120.
Artemis (Diana) : xiv., 109.
Asklepios (^sculapius) :
xxxi., 178.
Athene (Minerva) : xi., xii.,
88, 96.
Aurora. See Eos.
Bacchus. See Dionysos.
Bellerophon: xxxii., 221.
Brahma, with Saraswati:
xlii., 337-
Ceres. See Demeter.
Chloris (Flora): xxi., 165.
Cupid. See Eros.
Demeter (Ceres): vi., 57.
Diana OF Ephesus : xv., 115.
Dionysos (Bacchus): xiv.,
117.
DiosKURi: xxxiii., 286.
Eos (Aurora): xxvii., 167.
Erato: xiv., 161.
Erinys: xxix., 189.
Eros (Cupid): xxviii., xxix.,
168, 173.
Euterpe: xxiv., 160.
Fenris: xL, 320.
Flora. See Chloris.
FoRTUNA. See Tyche.
Freija: xxxvii., 314.
Freyr: xxxix., 317.
Frigg: xxxvi., 314.
Ganvmedes: xxviii., 178.
Hades. See Pluto.
ix
LIST OF PLATES.
Hebe: xxvi., 176.
Hecate: vii., 70.
Helios (Sol): xi., 96.
Heph^stos (Vulcan) : viii.,
X., 79, 125.
Hera (Juno) : iv., v., 46, 50.
Herakles (Hercules) : xxx.,
245»
Hermes (Mercury) : x., xvii.,
121, 134.
Hestia (Vesta) : vi., 71.
HoRiE: XXV,, xxxi., 129, 184.
Hygiea: xxxi., 181.
Hymen: xxvi., 172.
Indra: xli., 329.
Iris: xxvi., 162,
Isis: xlv., 350.
Janus: xvii., 132.
Juno. See Hera.
Jupiter. See Zeus.
Kalliope: xxiii., 160.
Kamadeva: xliii., 339.
Klio: xxii., 159.
Kronos: i., 29.
KuRETES: vii., 29, 34.
Laokoon: xxxiv., 299.
Latona. See Leto.
Leto (Latona) : xviii., 100.
Mars. See Ares.
Meleagros : xxxiii., 269.
Melpomene: xxii., 159.
Mercury. See Hermes.
Minerva. See Athene.
Muses, Mother of : xxiii.,
161.
Neptune. See Poseidon.
Nike (Victoria) : xxx., 183.
Nile god: xliv., 348.
NiOBE: xiii., 100.
Odin: xxxv., 313.
^0X0 [it: or, Fro7itispiece»
Osiris : xliv., 347.
Pan: xix., 136.
Pegasos: xxi., 155.
Perseus: xxxi., xxxii., 192,
216.
Pluto: vi., 56.
Polyhymnia: xxi v., 160.
Poseidon (Neptune) : v., 50.
Proserpina: vi., d-j^.
Psyche: xxviii., xxix., 170,
171.
Rhea: i., ii., 29, 33.
Satyr: xix., 141.
Serapis: xlv., 350.
Siren: xx., 149.
Siva: xliii., 338.
Sol. See Helios.
Terpsichore: xxv., 161.
Thalia: xxii., 159.
Themts: xviii., 127.
Theseus: xxxiv., 265.
LIST OF PLATES.
Thor: xxxviii., 315.
Trimurti (Hindoo Trinity):
xli., s^6.
Tritons: xx., 148.
Tyche (Fortuna) : xxi., 1S2.
Urania; xxi v., 160.
Venus. Sec Aphrodite.
Vesta. See Hestia.
Victoria. See Nike.
Vishnu: xlii., 338.
Vulcan. See HpipHiESTOS.
Zeus (Jupiter): ii.,iii., 35-
45-
INTRODUCTION.
THERE is a charm in the name of ancient Greece ; there
is glory in every page of her history; there is a fas-
cination in the remains of her literature^ and a sense of un-
approachable beauty in her works of art ; there is a spell in
her climate still, and a strange attraction in her ruins. We
are familiar with the praises of her beautiful islands ; our poets
sing of her lovely genial sky. There is not in all the land a
mountain, plain, or river, nor a fountain, grove, or wood, that
is not hallowed by some legend or poetic tale. The names of
her artists, Pheidias, Praxiteles, Apelles, and Zeuxis ; of her
poets. Homer, Pindar, ^schylus, Sophocles, Euripides ; of her
philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus; the names of her
statesmen and orators, Pericles and Demosthenes ; of her his-
torians, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon ; of her ma-
thematicians, Archimedes and Euclid, are familiar to us as
household words. We look back over a period of more than
two thousand years with feelings of wonder at her achieve-
ments on the battle-field and in the arts of peace. We emu-
late her in many ways, but always confess to failure ; and when
we have no desire of emulation, we are still ready in most
cases to admire.
How far we may find just cause for admiration or the con-
trary with regard to her religion remains to be seen. But
INTRODUCTION.
whichever way it be, we shall at any rate find abundant evi-
dence of the intense hold it had upon the great mass of the
people, and of the important influence it was calculated to
exercise on their civilization. For it was in the firm belief of
his interests being the special care of a deity that the husband-
man sowed his seed, and watched the vicissitudes of its growth ;
that the sailor and trader entrusted life and property to the
capricious sea. The mechanic traced the skill and handicraft
which grew unconsciously upon him by practice to the direct
influence of a god. Artists ascribed the mysterious evolution
of their ideas, and poets the inspiration of their song, to the
same superior cause. Daily bread and daily life, the joy and
gladness that circulated at festal gatherings, were duly acknow-
ledged as coming from the same high source. Everywhere in
nature was felt the presence of august invisible beings : in the
sky, with its luminaries and clouds ; on the sea, with its fickle,
changeful movements ; on the earth, with its lofty peaks, its
plains and rivers. It seemed that man himself, and everything
around him, was upheld by Divine power ; that his career was
marked out for him by a rigid fate which even the gods could
not alter, should they wish it on occasion. He was indeed
free to act, but the consequences of all his actions were settled
beforehand.
These deities to whom the affairs of the world were entrusted
were, it was believed, immortal, though not eternal in their
existence, as we shall see when we come to read the legends
concerning their birth. In Crete there was even a story of
the death of Zeus, his tomb being pointed out; and, further,
the fact that the gods were believed to sustain their existence
by means of nectar and ambrosia, is sufficient proof of their
being usually deemed subject to the infirmities of age. Being
INTRODUCTION.
immortal, they were next, as a consequence, supposed to be
omnipotent and omniscient. Their physical strength was ex-
traordinary, the earth shaking sometimes under their tread.
Whatever they did was done speedily. They moved through
space almost without the loss of a moment of time. They
knew all things, saw and heard all things with rare exceptions.
They were wise, and communicated their wisdom to men.
They had a most strict sense of justice, punished crime rigor-
ously, and rewarded noble actions, though it is true that they
were less conspicuous for the latter. Their punishments came
quickly, as a rule; but even if late, even if not till the second
generation, still they came without fail. The sinner who
escaped retribution in this life was sure to obtain it in the
lower world ; while the good who _died unrewarded enjoyed
the fruit of their good actions in the next life. To many this
did not appear a satisfactory way of managing human affairs,
and hence there frequently arose doubts as to the absolute jus-
tice of the gods, and even the sanctity of their lives. These
doubts were reflected in stories, which, to the indignation of
men like the poet Pindar, represented this or that one of the
gods as guilty of some offence or other, such as they were be-
lieved to punish. Philosophers endeavored to explain these
stories, some as mere fictions of the brain, others as allegories
under which lay a profound meaning. But the mass of the
people accepted them as they came, and nevertheless believed
in the perfect sanctity of the gods, being satisfied that human
wickedness was detested and punished by them.
Whether the gods were supposed to love the whole of man-
kind, or only such as led good lives, is not certain. It would
seem, however, from the universal practice of offering sacrifice
and expiation on the occasion of any wrong, that they were be-
INTRODUCTION.
lieved to be endowed with some deep feeling of general love,
which even sinners could touch by means of atonement. At
all events they were merciful. They hated excessive prosperity
among individual men, and would on such occasions exercise
a Satanic power of leading them into sin. They implanted
unwritten laws of right and wrong in the human breast. So-
cial duties and engagements were under their special care, as
were also the legislative measures of states.
There were tales of personal v^isits and adventures of the
gods among men, taking part in battles, and appearing in
dreams. They were conceived to possess the form of human
beings, and to be, like men, subject to love and pain, but al-
ways characterized by the highest qualities and grandest form
that could be imagined. To produce statues of them that would
equal this high ideal was the chief ambition of artists ; and in
presence of statues in which success had been attained, the pop-
ular mind felt an awe as if in some way the deity were near.
But while this was the case with regard to the renowned ex-
amples of art, such as the statue of Zeus at Olympia, by Phei-
dias, it was equally true with regard to those very ancient rude
figures of deities which were believed to have fallen from hea-
ven, and were on that account most carefully preserved in
temples, the removal or loss of such a figure being considered
an equivalent to the loss of the favour of the deity whose image
it was. This was idolatry. At the same time, owing to the
vast number of beautiful and grand statues of gods, there
gradually arose a feeling of the deification of man and a struggle
to become more and more like these beings of nobler human
form and divine presence. For it is one of the advantages of
liaving gods possessed of human form that mankind can look
up to them with the feeling of having something in common,
INTRODUCTION.
and the assurance of pity and favor. This was a powerful
element in the Greek religion, and led more than any other
to the extraordinary piety of the Greek race, in spite of all the
awkward stories whicli we are accustomed to ridicule.
It would seem that the gods were not looked on, at any rate
popularly, as having created the world. Perhaps the mass of
the i)eople cared nothing for speculation as to the origin of
what actually existed, their chief thoughts being concentrated
in the changes that took place in what existed and directly
affected their interests. In this spirit they looked on the gods
as only maintaining and preserving the existing order and
system of things according to their divine wisdom. Hence it
was that the Greeks never arrived at the idea of one absolute
eternal God, though they very nearly approached that idea in
the case of Zeus, who occasionally exercised control or sove-
reignty over the other gods who presided in particular depart-
ments in the management of the world. Their natural tendency
to polytheism may have been further aggravated by the pecu-
liar circumstances of their early history as a race. It has been
suggested with much plausibility that a number of their deities,
as Dione, Hera, Gaea, and Demeter, resemble each other so
much as to warrant the reasonableness of the conclusion that
their separate existence in the mythology was due to a coales-
cence at some remote early time of distinct tribes of the Greek
race, each possessing beforehand a god or gods of their own,
with separate names and slightly different attributes, though
in the main capable of identification and a common worship.
It is probable that, in consequence of such amalgamation, some
of the earliest gods have disai)peared altogether; while others,
who in after times, as in the case of Dione, held subordinate
positions, may have originally been deities of the first order.
INTRODUCTION.
At the time with which we are here concerned, the Greek
nation inhabited the country still known by the name of
Greece, though its present population has small claim to be
descendants of the ancient race. It was spread also in colonies
over the islands of the Archipelago and Mediterranean, along
the coasts of Asia Minor and the Black Sea, in the Crimea,
on the north coast of Africa, and on the south coast of France.
In many of its features the mainland of Greece may be com-
pared with England, both having the same comparatively vast
extent of sea coast, very few parts of the country being out of
sight of the sea. Both are well supplied with mountains that
invigorate the climate, and stir the spirit of adventure. In
both cases it may be that this proximity of the greater part of
the population to the sea, with its horizon tempting young
minds to penetrate beyond its ever-receding line, was the main
cause of the general desire of commerce and distant coloniza-
tion. At any rate, the natural features of Greece, her beauti-
ful bays, the vivid lines of her mountain peaks, her delightful
groves and valleys, made a deep impression on the people;
and colonists, wherever they spread, retained the warmest re-
collection of them; of snow-clad Olympos, where the gods
lived ; of the lovely vale of Tempe ; of the smiling banks of
thePeneios; of the sacred grove at Delphi ; of peaceful Arcadia,
with its pastoral life ; of the broad plain of Olympia, with its
innumerable temples, statues, and treasure-houses of costly
presents to the gods; of Corinth, with its flag that ruled the
sea; of Athens; of Thebes, with its ancient citadel founded
by Cadmus; of Eleusis, and many other places.
We propose now to examine more particularly the religious
belief of the Greeks and Romans, with the view of preparing
the way for tlie descriptions that follow of the gods indivi-
INTRODUCTION,
dually. But first of all let us explain the meaning of the word
"mythology." According to its derivation from the () reck
myfhos, a tale, and /o}^os, an account, it would mean " an ac-
count of tales," the tales in this case being confined to the
origin, character, and functions of the ancient gods, to the
origin of mankind, and the i)rimitive condition of the visible
world. To understand these stories we must try to understand
the circumstances under which they were invented, and must
endeavour to comprehend the condition and circumstances of
a nation in the early stage of its existence. For this purpose
we can compare the early tales relating to the gods of other
nations, of the Indian on the one hand and the German on
the other; or we may also compare the condition of races at
present in an uncivilized state. From these sources it would
seem that the youth of a nation, like that of an individual, is
the period at which the activity of imagination and fancy is
greatest in prop9rtion as knowledge is least. The mystery of
surrounding nature strikes forcibly on the mind, its phenomena
on the senses. There is a feeling of alarm when thunder
crashes on the ear, of gladness in the warm light of day, of
terror in the darkness of night, and of a strange dread at the
darkness of death. The accidents of daily life bind men to-
gether, and repel the rest of the animal creation, over which
the human superiority soon becomes known. Men learn to
know each other when as yet they know nothing else. They
know their own passions and instincts. They measure every-
thing by themselves, by feet, paces, palms, and ells; and when
they seek to fathom or measure the cause of the phenomena of
nature they have no standard to employ at hand, except them-
selves. They might, it is true, imagine the cause of the thun-
der under the form of a great invisible lion ; but in that case
8 INTRODUCTION.
they could not commune with and implore the thunderer for
pity, as they are moved to do. He must therefore be con-
ceived as fashioned like a man, endowed with the highest ima-
ginable qualities of a man. As knowledge and civilization
advance, those qualities become higher and higher. It seems
probable that the first phenomena that appealed to the mind
were those of the change of weather, of seasons, the revolving
day and the revolving year. At any rate, the earliest deities,
as well as we can trace them, appear to be those who presided
over the movements of the celestial sphere.
We seem to recognise the influence of such phenomena in
the chief characteristics of mankind in a primitive stage of
existence — the sense of order and regularity, the feeling of
fatality, the conviction that whatever temporary disturbances
might arise, the course of human life obeyed some fixed law,
coming with bright light, and departing in darkness, but only
to commence another day of happy life elsewhere. We know
that the name of the highest god of the ancients signified the
"light of the world,'* in a literal sense. In time, as the per-
ceptive faculties expanded, and the wants of men multiplied,
the other phenomena of the world became the subject of in-
quiry, and were, as usual, ascribed to the direct influence of
deities. The singular part, however, of this process of invent-
ing deities is, that having, at the commencement, obtained
one great powerful god, they did not simply extend his func-
tions to all the departments of nature, instead of finding a
new god to preside over each. It may be that the apparent
conflict frequently observed between the elements of nature
was hostile to such an idea, while on the contrary nothing
was more readily im.aginable than a quarrel among different
gods as the cause of such phenomena. By a similar process
INTRODUCTION
the combination of different elements, as, for example, warmth
and moisture, was ap[)ropriately described from the human
point of view as a i)rolific union or marriage of two deities.
The sun and moon were called brother and sister.
Another opinion, somewhat at variance with this, is, that the
primitive stage of all religions is a universal belief in one great
god — such a belief, it is said, being as natural to man as the use
of his arms and legs. But this earliest and pure form of belief
became, they say, in course of time debased into a belief in the
existence of many gods, originating in such a method of ex-
plaining the phenomena of nature as we have described.
On the other hand, the oldest religious records we know of
— the Vedas — speak of hosts of divine beings; while in the
primitive religion of the American Indians the Great Spirit is
surrounded by a crowd of lesser spirits, who represent the va-
rious phenomena of nature. It would seem that when the
notion of one god did arise, it was of the one true God as
opposed to the other and false gods, and this did not take
place till a high stage of civilization was reached. In the best
times of Greece, no doubt, thinking men acknowledged but
one supreme being, and looked on the crowd of other gods
as merely his servants, and in no sense really different from
our idea of angels.
In due time the religion of the ancients became a polytheism
on a very extensive scale ; every i)hase of nature, sky, sea, and
earth, every phase of human life, its habits, accidents, and
impulses, being provided with a special guardian and control-
ling deity. In all the varying circumstances of life men turned
to one or other of these divine persons in gratitude or for
help. Temples, sanctuaries, altars, were erected to them every-
where, one being worshipped with special favour here, and an-
INTRODUCTION.
Other there ; one with special favour at one season of the year,
another at another season. Many of them were only known
and worshipped in particular localities ; as, for instance, ma-
rine deities among people connected with the sea. Others be-
longed to particular periods of the national history. This li-
mitation, however, with regard to local differences, applies
only to the vast number of minor deities whose names and at-
tributes have come down to our times; for a belief in the su-
perior order of gods was the common property of the whole
nation, whether learned or unlearned, and of whatever occu-
pation. The mysteries of Eleusis united the people in honour
of Demeter; the national festivals united them in honour of
other gods, as of Zeus at Olympia. Every one believed in
the oracular power of Apollo, in the might of Poseidon, in
the grim character of Hades, that Hera was the wife of Zeus,
that Athene was his daughter, that Aphrodite was the goddess
of love, Artemis of the moon, and Ares the god of war.
It was believed that these higher deities inhabited Olympos,
living together in a social state which was but a magnified re-
flection of the social system on earth. Quarrels, love passa-
ges, mutual assistance, and such incidents as characterize hu-
man life, were ascribed to them. It must however be borne
in mind that these human attributes, and the stories connected
with them, whether they represent admirable qualities or the
reverse, were not in the first instance ascribed to the gods out
of a desire to make their resemblance to man more complete,
but were the natural result of identifying the gods with the
elements of nature over which they were supposed to preside,
of conceiving and representing the combination or conflict
of elements visible in nature as the result of the combination
of invisible beings of human form. In later times of higher
INTRODUCTION. 1 1
civilization and greater refinement, wlien the origin of the
gods as personificxitions of natural plienomena was lost sight
of, many of these stories came to be viewed as disgraceful,
and by being made the subject of jiubiic ridicule in plays
tended largely to uproot the general faith in the gods. Phi-
losophers attempted to explain them as allegories. Others,
who did not themselves sec their way to believing them, yet
advised that the popular faith in them should not be disturbed.
But we who live in other times, having no need of a religion
that has long since passed away, and desiring only to trace its
origin and the source of its long and deep influence on a great
nation, may look at them in a calmer mood. It is our part
to admire as far as possible, and not to condemn without first
taking into account every extenuating circumstance.
Turning now to the rites and ceremonies by which the
Greeks and Romans expressed their belief in and entire de-
pendence on the gods, we would call attention first to the
offering of sacrifices. These were of two kinds, one consist-
ing of fruits, cakes, and wine; the other of animals, which
were led to the altar decked with garlands and ribbons, after
various ceremonies slain, and part of the flesh consumed upon
the altar fire, the smell of it being supposed to rise agreeably
to the gods. It was necessary that the animals selected for
this purpose should be spotless and healthy,* that the persons
participating in the ceremony should be cleanly in person and
in mind ; for no costliness could make the oflering of a sinner
acceptable to the gods. The colour, age, and sex of the ani-
mal were determined by the feeling of appropriateness to the
deity for whom it was slain. The time chosen for the cere-
mony was the morning in the case of the gods of heaven, the
evening in the case of the gods of the lower world.. To these
1 2 INTRODUCTION,
latter deities the victim was always offered entire, as it was
not deemed possible that they could share in a feast in com-
pany with men. The fire on the altar was considered holy,
and special care was taken that it should be fed with wood
that gave a pure flame. In early times it would seem that
even human beings were offered as sacrifices to certain gods,
the \ictims in such cases being occasionally, to judge from the
instance of Iphigenia, closely connected by ties of blood and
affection with the person required to make the sacrifice. But
these were, perhaps, mostly cases in which the will of the
gods was specially communicated through a seer or prophet ;
whereas sacrifice generally was a spontaneous gift to the gods,
either for the purpose of expressing gratitude for the blessings
bestowed by them, or of atoning for some sin of which the
person sacrificing was conscious. Sacrifices were not pre-
sented intermittently and at mere pleasure, but regularly when
occasion offered, as at harvest time, when the fruits of the
fields and gardens were gathered in. The herdsmen sacrificed
the firstlings of his flock, the merchant gave part of his gain,
and the soldier a share of his booty in war. The gods to whom
all prosperity and worldly blessings were due expected such of-
ferings, it was thought, and punished every instance of neglect.
There was, however, another class of sacrifices, springing
from a different 'motive, and with a different object in view ;
for example, to obtain by means of an examination of the
entrails of an animal an augury as to the issue of some enter-
prise,— a form of sacrifice which was held of great importance
at the commencement of a battle ; or to sanctify the ratification
of a treaty, or some important bargain between man and
man ; or to obtain purification for some crime. In this last
case it was supposed that the victim took the sin upon its own
jNtroduction. 13
head, and that both perished together. Hence no part of
such victims was eaten.
How the gods were supposed to partake of the share of
sacrifices allotted to them is not always clear, though in the
case of burnt offerings they may be imagined to have been
satisfied with the smell that rose in the air, and in the case of
libations with the aroma of the wine. With regard to the
sacrifices in honour of the deities of the lower world, it seems
to have been the belief that the blood of the victim, if poured
into a hole in the ground, would sink down to them, and be
acceptably received. In the same hole, or near by, were
buried the ashes that remained on the altar on which the
victim was consumed. The portions assigned to marine or
river deities were simk in deep water.
It was the duty of the priests to perform the ceremony of
offering up the sacrifices brought to the gods in whose service
they were. The first part of the ceremony was to take a bas-
ket containing the sacrificial knife, some com, and perhaps
also flowers, and to pass it, along with a vessel containing wa-
ter, round the altar from left to right. The water was next
purified by dipping a brand from the altar in it. Thereupon
the people who had brought the sacrifice sprinkled themselves
and the altar, and taking a handful of com from the basket,
scattered it on the head of the victim as it approached. The
priest then, after shearing a lock of hair from the head of the
animal, and distributing it among the bystanders to be thrown
on the altar fire, commanded silence, prayed that the ofiering
might be acceptable to the god, and slew the victim. The
blood, except in the case of the deities of the lower world, as
has been observed, and the entrails, were mixed with wheat,
wine, and incense, and placed upon the fire.
14 INTRODUCTION.
The strong feelings of piety, gratitude, dependence, or con-
sciousness of guilt, which gave rise to such offerings, gave rise
also to a universal habit of prayer, and a desire to frequent on
all possible occasions the temples and altars of the gods.
Morning and evening, at the beginning of meals, at the open-
ing of business in the courts of justice and public assemblies,
a prayer was offered up, now to one god, now to another, or,
if no particular deity appeared to be an appropriate guardian
for the time and occasion, to the gods generally. There was
this peculiarity in the Greek prayers, which we must not omit
to mention, that after calling on a deity by his usual name a
clause was added to save the suppliant from any possible dis-
pleasure of the deity at the name employed ; for how could
man know the true name of a god? We have an example of
such a prayer in ^schylus: ''Zeus, whoever thou art, and by
whatever name it please thee to be named, I call on thee and
pray." In praying to the gods above it was the custom of
the Greeks to lift the hands and turn the face towards the
east ; of the Romans, to turn towards the north. A suppliant
of the sea gods stretched out his hands towards the sea, and a
suppliant of the gods of the lower world beat the earth with
his hands. When a prayer was offered up in a temple the rule
was to turn towards the sacred image. In cases of great dis-
tress the suppliant would carry an olive branch, or a rod with
wool twined round it, throw himself on the ground before the
sacred image, and embrace its feet. Pythagoras, the philoso-
pher, taught his followers to pray with a loud voice ; but loud
prayers do not appear to have been customary. On the con-
trary, it happened not unfrequently that the prayers were writ-
ten on tablets, sealed and deposited beside the image of the
god, that no human being might be aware of the request con-
\
INTRODUCTION. 1 5
tained in them. Here is a specimen of what seems to have
been the usual form: "Zeus, our lord, give unto us whatever
is good, whether we ask it of thee or not ; whatever is evil
keep far from us, even if we ask it of thee."
Besides sacrifice and prayer there is still another class of
ceremonies, in which we recognize the deep piety of the
Greeks : first, the custom of consulting oracles, especially that
of Apollo at Delphi, in times of great perplexity; and secondly,
the universal practice, in cases of less or more sudden emer-
gency, of trying to interpret the will of the gods by means
of augury or divination in a vast variety of ways. Sometimes
the augury was taken from the direction in which birds were
observed to fly overhead. If to the right of the augur, who
stood with his face to the north, good luck would attend the
enterprise in question ; if to the left, the reverse. At other
times an animal was slain, and its entrails carefully examined,
the propitiousness of the gods being supposed to depend on the
healthy and normal condition of these parts. But the gods
were also believed to communicate their will to men in dreams,
by sending thunder and lightning, comets, meteors, eclipses,
earthquakes, prodigies in nature, and the thousands of unex-
pected incidents that occur to men. As few persons were able
to interpret the bearing of these signs and wonders, there was
employment for a large class of people who made this their
particular business.
Finally, we must not forget to mention as a proof of the wide-
spread religious feeling of the Greeks the national festivals, or
games, as they are called, established and maintained in honour
of certain gods. While these festivals were being celebrated
it was necessary to suspend whatever war might be going on be-
tween separate states, and to permit visitors to pass unmolest-
1 6 INTRODUCTION.
ed even through hostile territory. These festivals were four
in number: the Olympiaji, Pythian, Nemeaji, and Isth77iian.
The first-mentioned was held in honour of Zeus, on the plain
of Olympia, in Elis. It occurred every fifth year, and the usual
method of reckoning time was according to its re-occurrence,
by Olympiads, as we say. The games with which it was cele-
brated consisted of running, wrestling, boxing, a combination
of the two latter, horse-racing, either with chariots or only
with riders. The prize of victory was simply a wreath of olive,
and yet athletes trained themselves laboriously and travelled
great distances to compete for it. Kings sent their horses to
run in the races, and counted a victory among the highest ho-
nours of their lives. The fellow-townsmen of a victorious athlete
would raise a statue in his honour. Occasionally writers, as
we are told of Herodotus, took this occasion of a vast assem-
blage of their countrymen to read to them part of their
writings. The Pythian games were held in honour of Apollo,
in the neighbourhood of Delphi, and occurred every fifth year,
there being competition in music as well as in athletics. The
prize was a wreath of laurel. At the Nemean games, which
were held in honour of Zeus, the prize was a wreath of ivy.
The Isthmian games were held in honour of Poseidon, on the
Isthmus of Corinth, and occurred every third year; the prize
was a wreath of pine.
It is remarkable and surprising that, with all the piety
and religious ceremonies of the ancients, there existed among
them no established means of instruction for the mass of the
people, as to the character and functions of the gods whom
they worshipped. There was, indeed, a regular priesthood,
whose duty it was to conduct the public ceremonies, to offer
up sacrifices, and to perform other offices peculiar to the god in
INTRODUCTION. 1 7
whose service they were. But there their duties ceased. These
ceremonies had been handed down from time immemorial, and
that was perhaps sufficient guarantee of their importance to
make the ordinary Greek assiduous in his observance of them.
At any rate, this assiduity is not traceable to a clear and
explicit knowledge of the character of the gods derived from
public instruction. In regard to that, whatever unanimity
existed was unquestionably due in the first instance to the
influence of poets like Homer and Hesiod, and in the second,
to the exertion of the persons connected with the oracle at
Delphi. The effect of this state of things was a great amount
of confusion in the popular mind, and not only in the popular
mind, but also in the minds of men like Socrates, who con-
fessed he did not know whether there was one Aphrodite or
two, and wondered why Zeus, who was believed to be one
god, had so many names.
The preceding remarks, it should be here observed, apply
for the most part only to the mythology of the Greeks, and
do not extend to that of the Romans, except so far as they
refer to the most primitive class of myths, such as those con-
cerning the origin of the world. For the practice of identi-
fying the mythologies of those two nations has no foundation
in fact. Both races, it is true, belonged to one and the same
great branch of the human family, and from that source de-
rived a common kernel of religious belief. But before this
kernel had developed far the two nations parted, and formed
for themselves distinct and isolated settlements in Europe.
In the long period of isolation, that followed, the common seed
of religious belief with which both started grew up, was pro-
pagated under quite different circumstances, and assumed a
very different aspect. The Romans — in the early period of their
I > INTRODUCTION.
histon- a pastoml, agricuitunil, simple, and more or less uni-
ted people — had no need of a \-arioiis multitude of deities, such
as the Greeks found necessary, scattered and separated as they
were into a variety of tribes with a variety of occupations.
From this, among other causes, it happens that many, even
of the very early Greek mnhs, were quite foreign to thfe Ro-
mans. To this class belong, for instance, the myths that de-
scribe the conflict between Uranos and his sons : Kronos de-
vouring his children to escape, as he thought, being dethroned
by them, and Zeus placing his father, Kronos, in durance in
Tartaros. No less strictly peculiar to the Greeks were those
accounts of quarrels among the gods, wounds, and occasion-
ally the banishment of certain gods to a period of service on
earth. To these we may add the carrying off of Persephone
by Pluto, and several other stories. With regard to the cere-
monies which accompanied the worship of certain gods, we
observe the same great difference between the two nations,
and would cite as an example the wild mirestrained conduct
of those who took part in the festivals of Dion}-30s, remark-
ing that when in later times of luxur}^ a festival of this kind
was introduced into Italy in honour of Bacchus, the Roman
equivalent for the Greek Dionysos or Bakchos, the new festi-
val was forbidden, and those who took part in it were viewed
as persons of imbridled desires. Nor did Mercur\' ever ob-
tain the wide-spread worship and honour paid to Hermes in
Greece; and even Satumus, in spite of the Roman poets,
was a very different god from the Greek Kronos.
At the time when the Roman poets began to write, **' Greece
captured was leading her captor captive.** Greek literature
was the usual means of education ; Greek philosophy, Greek
art, ^-everything pertaining to the Greeks, — constituted the
INTRODUCTION. 1 9
principal pui^uit of educated men. Many would rather em-
ploy the Greek than their own language in writing. Poets,
constructing their poems often in close imitation of Greek
models, replaced the names of gods that occurred in the Greek
originals by names of native deities possessing some similari-
ty of character, and told a Greek stor>' of a native Italian
god ; or, failing such, employed the Greek name in a Latin
form. At the same time no real adaptation or coalescence of
the two religious systems ever took place. The Roman ceremo-
nies and forms of worship remained for the most part distinct
from the Greek, and peculiar to the race. In modem times,
however, the literature (especially the poetr}-) of the ancient
Romans was more familiarly known than the facts relating to
their ceremonies and forms of worship. It was more early
and familiarly known than the literature of Greece, and in-
stead of upon the latter, the modem notions of Greek mytho-
logy were founded on the statements of the Roman poets.
Hence, arose a confusion which our own poets, especially those
of the last centur)-, only made worse confounded. To meet
tliis confusion we shall give the accredited Roman equivaloit
by the side of the Greek gods, throughout our descriptions,
and point out as far as possible the differences between them.
Thus far our obser\*ations have been confined to the mjtho-
log)- and religious ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans, es-
pecially of the former. We have had ver}- little to say of the
Romans, because, though equal perhaps to the Greeks in their
piety and trust in the gods, they appear to have been very
deficient in that quality of imagination which could readily
invent some diWne personification for ever>- phenomenon of
nature that struck the mind. As, however, it is our intention
to include a description, even if ver}- brief, of the mythology
INTRODUCTION.
of the Indian and Teutonic or Germanic races, it may be well
to call attention here to the fact, now clearly ascertained, that
these races are sprung from the same common family or hu-
man stock to which the Greeks and Romans belonged, and
that at least certain ideas concerning the origin and primitive
condition of the world are common to the mythologies of them
all. From this it is reasonable to conclude that these ideas
were arrived at previous to the separation of this great Indo-
Germanic family, as it is called, and its develoj^ment into
distinct and isolated nations, as we find it at the dawn of
historical times. From the Ganges to Iceland we meet with
traces of a common early belief that the wild features of the
earth had been produced by some long past convulsive conflict
of Titanic beings, whom, though invisible, the stormy elements
of nature still obeyed. We find that everywhere, within these
limits of space and time, there existed among men the same
sensitiveness to the phenomena of nature, — to light and dark-
ness, to heat and cold, to rain and drought, to storms and
peacefulness, — and the same readiness and power of imagining
invisible beings of human form, but loftier attributes, as the
cause of these phenomena. To these beings actions and habits
of life were ascribed, such as were suggested by the phenomena
which they were supposed to control; and in no case, it
should be borne in mind,/was any feeling of morality or immo-
rality intended to be conveyed. For instance, when we find
the natural process by which the clouds pour out their rain up-
on the earth, and are again filled from the sea, described as Her-
mes (the god of rain) stealing the cattle (clouds) of Apollo, we
cannot attach to the story the idea of criminality wliich it at
first suggests. Simihir interjjretations we must he prepared to
seek throughout tlie mythologies of the Indtj-Germanic races.
INTRODUCTION. 21
It may now be asked, from what source is this knowledge
derived of the mythohjgy of the ancients? To this we rei>ly,
from the works of ancient writers, poets, historians, philo-
sopliers, and others, to whom the religious belief of their
countrymen was a subject of great importance, and whose
writings have survived to our times; in the second place, from
the representations of gods and mythological scenes on the im-
mense number of ancient works of art that still exist, whether
in the form of statues in marble and bronze, painted vases,
engraved gems, or coins. These are the sources of our know-
ledge, and without becoming more or less familiar with them
it is perhaps impossible to understand fully the spirit of these
ancient myths; and contrariwise, to be able to appreciate at
its real worth the beauty of ancient works, whether in literature
or in art, it is necessary to become acquainted with the mytho-
logy and the religious spirit which guided their authors; and
if that be not sufficient temptation to follow our descriptions
of the various deities and heroes of ancient times, we can still
appeal to this, — that a great part of our grandest modern
poetry and works of art can only be intelligible to those who
know the ancient mythology.
Drawing near, as we are now, to the details of our subject,
we become anxious to guard against all feelings of impropriety
in what we may have occasionally to relate. We would there-
fore remind the reader of the principle of interpretation which
we have endeavoured to exi)hiin in the preceding pages. We
would also repeat that we have here to do with a system of
religious belief which, whatever its apparent or real shortco-
mings may have been, exercised enormous influence on the
education of at least two of the most civilized nations of the
earth.
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
IN thinking of the origin of the world in which they lived,
the Greeks for the most part, it would appear, were satis-
fied with the explanation given by the poet Hesiod, — that in
the beginning the world was a great shapeless mass or chaos
out of which was fashioned first the spirit of love, Eros
(Cupid), and the broad-chested earth, Gaea ; then Erebos,
darkness, and Nyx, night. From a union of tlic two latter
sprang ^ther, the clear sky, and Hemera, day. The
earth, by virtue of the power by which it was fashioned, pro-
duced in turn, Uranos, the firmament which covered her
with its vault of brass, as the poets called it, to describe its
appearance of eternal duration, the mountains, and Pontos,
the unfruitful sea. Thereupon Eros, the oldest and at the
same time the youngest of the gods, began to agitate the earth
and all things on it, bringing them together, and making
pairs of them. First in importance of these pairs were Ura-
nos and Gaea, heaven and earth, who peopled the earth with
a host of beings, Titans, Giants, and Kyklopes, of far greater
physical frame and energy than the races who succeeded them.
It is a beautiful idea, that of love making order out of chaos,
bringing opposite elements together, and preparing a world
to receive mankind.
Another api^arently older and certainly obscure notion, is
that expressed l)y Homer, which ascribes the origin of the
world to Okeanos, ihc ocean. IIuw tlic carili and licavens
22
THE CRKATION OF THE Wimi.D. 23
sprang from him, or whether they were conceived as co-exist-
ing with him from the beginning, we are not told. The
numerous ant icnt stories, however, concerning floods, after
which new generations of men si)rang up, and the fact that
the innumerable fertilizing rivers and streams of the earth
were believed to come from the ocean, as they were seen to
return to it, and that all the river gods were accounted the
offspring of Okeanos, suggest the prevalence of such a form
of belief with regard to the origin of the world in times pre-
vious to Hesiod. We are told that the ocean encircled the
earth with a great stream, and was a region of wonders of all
kinds ; that Okeanos lived there, with his wife Tethys ; that
there were the islands of the blest, the gardens of the gods, .
the sources of the nectar and ambrosia on which the gods
lived. Within this circle of water the earth lay spread out
like a disc with mountains rising from it, and the vault of
heaven appearing to rest on its outer edge all round. This
outer edge was supposed to be slightly raised, so that the
water might not rush in and overflow the land. The space
between the surface of the earth and the heavens was seen to
be occupied by air and clouds, and above the clouds was sup-
posed to be pure ether, in which the sun, moon, and stars
moved. The sun rising in the eastern sky in the moniing,
traversing the celestial arch during the day, and sinjcing at
.evening in the west, was thought to be under the guidance of
a god in a chariot drawn by four splendid horses^ After
sinking into Okeanos, it was supposed that he took ship and
sailed during the night round to the east, so as to be ready to
begin a new day.
In the region of air above the clouds moved the higher
order of gods ; and when, for the sake of council or inter-
24 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
course they met together, the meeting place was the summit
of one of those lofty mountains whose heads were hid in the
clouds, but chief of all, the inaccessible Olympos in Thessaly.
Round the highest point of it was the palace of Zeus, with the
throne on which he sat in majesty to receive such visits as
those of Thetis (Iliad i. 498) when she came to plead for her
son. On plateaus or in ravines lower down were the mansions
of the other gods, provided, as was thought, with the con-
venience of store-rooms, stabling, and all that was usual in
the houses of princes on earth. The deities who thus inhabi-
ted Olympos, and for that reason were styled the Olympian
deities, were twelve in number. We do not, it is true, always
find this number composed of the same gods, but the follow-
ing may be taken as having been the most usual ; Zeus
(Jupiter), Hera Quno), Poseidon (Neptune), Demeter
(Ceres), Apollo, Artemis (Diana), Hephaestos (Vulcan),
Pallas, Athene (Minerva), Ceres (Mars), Aphrodite
(Venus), Hermes (Mercury), and Hestia (Vesta). Though
allied to each other by various degrees of relationship, and
worshipped in many places at altars dedicated to them as a
united body, they did not always act together in harmony, a
most memorable instance of their discord being that (Iliad
viii. 13-27) in which Zeus threatened to hurl the others into
Tartaros, and challenged them to move him from Olympos
by letting themselves down with a golden chain and pulling
with all their might. Should they try it, he said, he could
easily draw them up with earth and sea to the bargain, fasten
the chain to the top of Olympos, and let the whole hang in
mid air. The name of Olympos was not coiifincd to the
Thessalian mountain, though it may have had the earliest, as
in after times it had the principal, claim to the tftle, but was
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 25
applied to no less than fourteen mountains in various parts
of the Greek world, each of which appears to have been
regarded as an occasional meeting place, if not a permanent
seat of the gods. Finally, the word was used to designate a re-
gion above the visible sky, from which, to express its height,
it was said that once a brazen anvil fell nine days and nine
nights before it reached the earth. At an equal distance be-
neath the surface of the earth was Tartaros, a vast gloomy space
walled in with brass, where the Titans lived in banishment.
The lower order of deities, having naturally no place in Olym-
pos, were restricted to the localities on earth where they exer-
cised their powers — as, for instance, the Naiads, or Nymphs
of fountains, to the neighbourhood of fountains and springs;
the Oreads, <^r mountain Nymphs, to the mountains and hills;
and tlic Dryads, or Nymphs of trees, to trees. With regard to
the place of residence of the heroes or semi-divine beings after
their translation from earth, there existed considerable variety
of opinion, of which we shall afterwards have occasion to speak.
Representations of the deities assembled in Olympos for a particular occa-
sion— as at the birth of Athene from the head of her father Zeus — occur not
unfrequently on tlie Greek p;untccl v;ises. This was tlie subject chosen by
Phcidias for the sculptures in one of the pediments of the Parthenon now ia
the British Museum. The loss, however, of many of the figures renders it
impossible to say now who were the deities he selected, or whether he evea
adhered to the usual number of twelve. At one end of the pediment the sun
rises in his chariot from the sea, at the other the moon rides away. The event
must therefore have taken place at the break of day. The same fact is to
be observed in the scene at the birth of Aphrodite, in presence of the assem-
bled deities, with which Pheidias adorned the base of his statue of Zeus at
Olympia, and of which we have still the description in Pausanias (v. 403.) At
one end was the Sun stepping into his chariot, next to him Zeus and Hera,
then Hephaestos (?) and Charis, then Hermes and Hestia. In the centre was
Eros receiving Aphrodite as she rises from the sea, and Peitho crowning Aph-
rodite ; then Apollo and Artemis, next Athene and Herakles, then Poseidon
and Amphitrite, and lastly the Moon (Selene) riding away. The deities are
thus grouped in pairs of male and female, those of greater importance being
towards either end of the composition.
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
URANOS
IS a personification of the sky as the ancients saw and under-
stood its phenomena, and with him, according to the ver-
sion of mythology usually accepted by the Greeks, commences
the race of gods. Next succeeded Kronos, and lastly,
Zeus. With regard to this triple succession of supreme rulers
of the world, we should notice the different and progressive
signification of their three names, Uranos signifying the hea-
vens viewed as husband of the earth, and by his warmth and
moisture producing life and vegetation everywhere on it;
Kronos, his successor, being the god of harvest, who also
ripened and matured every form of life ; while in the person
of Zeus, god of the light of heaven, as his name implies, cul-
minated the organization and perfectly wise and just dispensa-
tion of the affairs of the universe. Uranos, as we have
already observed, was a son of Gaea (the earth), whom he
afterwards married, the fruit of that union being the Titans,
the Hekatoncheires, and the Kyklopes.
The Hekatoncheires, or Centimani, beings each with a
hundred hands, were three in number; Kottos, Gyges or
Gyes, and Briareus, and rei)resented the frightful crashing
of waves and its resemblance to the convulsion of earth(iuakes.
The Kyklopes also were three in number: Brontes with his
26
URANOS. 27
thunder, Steropes with his lightning, and Arges with his
stream of light. Tliey were represented as having only one
eye, which was placed at the juncture between nose and brow.
It was, however, a large flashing eye, as became beings who
were personifications of the storm-cloud, with its flashes of
destructive lightning and peals of thunder. From a similarity
observed between the phenomena of storms and those of
volcanic eruptions, it was usually supposed that the Kyklopes
lived in tlie heart of burning mountains, above all, in Mount
Etna, in Sicily, where they acted as apprentices of Hephaes-
tos (Vulcan), assisting him to make thunderbolts for Zeus,
and in other works. Uranos, it was said, alarmed at their
promise of fierceness and strength, had cast the Hekatonchei-
res and Kyklopes at their birth back into the womb of the
earth from which they had sprung.
The Titans were, like the Olympian deities, twelve in
number, and grouped for the most part in pairs: Okeanos
and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Kreios and Eury-
bia, Koios and Phoebe, Kronos and Rhea, Japetos and
Themis. Instead of Eurybia we find frequently Mnemo-
syne. Their names, though not in every case quite intelli-
gible, show that they were personifications of those primary
elements and forces of nature to the operations of which, in
the first ages, the present configuration of the earth was
supposed to be due. While Themis, Mnemosyne, and Jape-
tos may be singled out as personifications of a civilizing force
in the nature of things, and as conspicuous for having off"-
spring endowed with the same character, the other Titans
appear to represent wild, powerful, and obstructive forces.
In keeping with this character we find them rising in rebellion
first against their father and afterwards against Zeus.
28 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
In the former experiment the result was that Uranos, as
we learn from the poetic account of the myth, threw them
into Tartaros, where he kept them bound. But Gaea, his
wife, grieving at the hard fate of her offspring, provided the
youngest son, Kronos, with a sickle or curved knife, which
she had made of stubborn adamant, and told him how and
when to wound his father with it irremediably. The enter-
prise succeeded, the Titans were set free, married their sisters,
and begat a numerous family of divine beings, while others of
the same class sprang from the blood of the wound of Uranos
as it fell to the ground. Of these were the Giants, monsters
with legs formed of serpents; the Melian nymphs, or
nymphs of the oaks, from which the shafts used in war were
fashioned; and the Erinys, or Furise, as the Romans
called them, — Tisiphone, Megsera, and Alekto, — crea-
tures whose function it was originally to avenge the shedding
of a parent's blood. Their form was that of women, with
hair of snakes and girdles of vipers. They were a terror to
criminals, whom they pursued with unrelenting fury. The
whole of these divine beings, however, with the exception of
the Erinys, who were worshipped at Athens under the name
of the ''venerable deities," were excluded from the religion
of the Greeks, and had a place only in the mythology, while
among the Romans they were unknown till later times, and
even then were only introduced as poetic fictions, with no
hold upon the religious belief of the people.
Kronos.
Rhea.
KRONOS. 29
K R O N O S ,
(plate I.,)
'The ripencr, the harvest god,' was, as we have already re-
marked, a son of Uranos. That he continued for a long time
to be identified with the Roman deity, Saturnus, is a mis-
take which recent research has set right, and accordingly we
shall devote a separate chapter to each. Uranos, deposed
from the throne of the gods, was succeeded by Kronos, who
married his own sister Rhea, a daughter of Gaea, who bore
him Pluto, Poseidon (Neptune), and Zeus (Jupiter),
Hestia (Vesta), Demeter (Ceres), and Hera (Juno). To
prevent the fulfilment of a prophecy Svhich had been commu-
nicated to him by his parents, that, like his father, he too
would be dethroned by his youngest born, Kronos swallowed
his first five children apparently as each came into the world.
But when the sixth child appeared, Rhea, his wife, determined
to save it, and succeeded in duping her husband by giving
him a stone (perhaps rudely hewn intc? the figure of an infant)
wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed, believing
he had got rid of another danger.
While the husband was being deceived in this fashion, Zeus,
the newly-born child, was conveyed to the island of Crete,
and there concealed in a cave on Mount Ida. The nymphs
Adrastea and Ida tended and nursed him, the goat Amalthea
supplied him with milk, bees gathered honey for him, and in
the meantime, lest his infantile cries should reach the ears of
Kronos, Rhea's servants, the Kuretes, were appointed to
keep up a continual noise and din in the neighbourhood by
dancing and clashing their swords and shields.
30 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
AVhen Zeus had grown to manhood he succeeded by the aid
of Gaea, or perhaps of Metis, in persuading Kronos to
yield back into the light the sons whom he had swallowed and
the stone which had been given him in deceit. The stone
was placed at Delphi as a memorial for all time. The libe-
rated gods joined their brethren in a league to drive their fa-
ther from the throne and set Zeus in his place. This was
done; but the change of government, though acquiesced in
by the principal deities, was not to be brooked by the Titans,
who with the exception of Okeanos proceeded to war. The
seat of war was Thessaly, with its wild natural features sug-
gestive of a conflict in which huge rocks had been torn from
mountain sides and shattered by the violence with which they
had been thrown in combat. The party of Zeus had its posi-
tion on Mount Olympos, the Titans on Mount Othrys. The
struggle lasted many years, all the might which the Olympians
could bring to bear being useless until, on the advice of Gaea,
Zeus set free the Kyklopes and Hekatoncheires, of whom the
former fashioned thunderbolts for him, while the latter ad-
vanced on his side with force equal to the shock of an earth-
quake. The earth trembled down to lowest Tartaros as Zeus
now appeared with his terrible weapon and new allies. Old
Chaos thought his hour had come, as from a continuous blaze
of thunderbolts the earth took fire and the waters seethed in
the sea. The rebels were partly slain or consumed, and partly
hurled into deep chasms, with rocks and hills reeling after
them, and consigning them to a life beneath the surfiice of the
earth. The cause of Kronos was thus lost for ever, and the
right of Zeus to rule established for all time.
The island of Crete, where civilization appears to have
dawned earlier than elsewhere in Greece, and where the story
SATURNUS. 3 1
of the secret up-bringing of Zeus was made the most of, was
the principal centre of the worship of Kronos. Here, how-
ever, and in Attica, as well as in several other districts of
Greece, it was less as the grim go<l wlio had devoured his chil-
dren that he was worshipix.'d than as the maturer and ripener,
the god of harvest, who sends riches and blessings, prosperity
and gladness. So it happened that his festivals in Greece, the
Kronia, and the corresponding Saturnalia in Italy, were
of that class which imjxjscd no restraint on the mirth and
pleasure of those present, and seemed like a reminiscence of
an age when under the rule of Kronos there had been a per-
petual harvest time on earth. As the devourer of his children
Kronos bears some resemblance to the Phoenician Moloch,
and it is highly probable that this phase of his character ori-
ginated in Crete, where the influence of Phoinician settlers
had been felt from very remote times. It is also to be noted
that his wife Rhea enjoyed a very early and wide-spread wor-
ship in Asia Minor.
The scene where Rhea presents the stone carefully wrapped up to her hus-
band as he sits on his throne, was the subject of a sculpture executed for Pla-
taeae by Praxiteles (Pausanios ix. 2, 7), from which it is possible that the
relief may have been made which is represented in Plate I, and is now in the
Capitoline Museum, Rome. The thoughtfid attitude of Kronos, and esf>e-
cially the veiled head, seem to indicate a plotting mind, while the sickle in his
left hand is emblematical of his function as god of harvest, and at the same
time a memorial of the deed he wrought upon *his father Uranos. The war
with the Titans (Titanomachia) was superseded in popular estimation as
early as the time of Euripides by the Gigantomachia, or war of Giants, which
will be described in connection with Zeus. Artists following tlie popular taste
neglected the former altogether as a source of subjects.
SATURNUS,
According to the popular belief of the Romans, made his
first appearance in Italy at a time when Janus was reigning
32 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
king of the fertile region that stretches along the banks of the
Tiber on either side. Presenting himself to Janus, and being
kindly received, he proceeded to instruct the subjects of the
latter in agriculture, gardening, and many other arts then
quite unkno^vn to them: as, for example, how to train and
nurse the vine, and how to tend and cultivate fruit-trees.
By such means he at length raised the people from a rude
and comparatively barbarous condition to one of order and
peaceful occupations, in consequence of which he was every-
where held in high esteem, and in course of time was selected
by Janus to share with him the government of the kingdom,
which thereupon assumed the name of Saturnia, ' a land
of seed and fruit.' Tlie period of Saturn '"s government was
in later times sung of by poets as a happy time when sorrows
and cares of life were unknown, when innocence, freedom,
and gladness reigned throughout the land, in such a degree
as to deserve the title of the golden age. Greek mythology
also has its golden age, said to have occurred during the
reign of Kronos, and this, perhaps, more than any other
circumstance, led to the identification of Satumus and Kronos,
in spite of the real difference between the two deities. The
name of Saturn's wife was Ops.
Once a year, in the month of December, the Romans held
a festival called Saturnalia in his honour. It lasted from
five to seven days, and was accompanied by amusements of
all kinds. During those days the ordinary distinctions were
done away with between master and servant or slave. No
assemblies were held to discuss public affairs, and no punish-
ments for crime were inflicted. Servants or slaves went about
dressed like their masters, and received from tliem costly
presents. Children received from their p:irents or relatives
Rhea.
Zeus, or Jupiter.
RHEA. 33
presents of pictures, probably of a gaudy type, purchased in
the street where the picture dealers lived.
There was a temple of Saturn in Rome, at the foot of the
Capitoline Hill, containing a figure of him with his feet
wrapped round with pieces of woollen cloth, which could only
be removed during the festival of the Saturnalia. In one
hand he held a curved garden-knife, as a sign of his having
been the first to teach the people how to trim the vine and
olive. In this temple were preserved the state chest and the
standards of the army.
RHEA.
(plates I. AND II.)
As Uranos, the representative of the fertilizing force in
nature, was superseded by Kronos the representative of a
ripening force, so Gaea, the primitive goddess of the earth
with its productive plains gave way to Rhea, a goddess of the
earth with its mountains and forests. Gaea had been the
mother of the powerful Titans. Rliea was the mother of gods
less given to feats of strength, but more highly gifted:
Pluto, Poseidon, and Zeus, Hera, Demeter, and
Hestia. Her titles — as for example, Dindumene and
Berekuntia — were derived for the most part from the names
of mountains in Asia Minor, particularly those of Phrygia
and Lydia, her worship having been intimately associated
with the early civilization of these countries. There her name
was Kybele or Kybebe, which also, from its being employed
to designate her sanctuaries (Kybcla) in caves or mountain
sides, points to her character as a mountain goddess.
3
34 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The lofty hills of Asia Minor, while sheltering on their
cavernous sides wild animals, such as the panther and lion,
which it was her delight to tame, also looked down on
many flourishing cities which it was her duty to protect. In
this latter capacity she wore a mural crown, and was styled
Mater turrita. But though herself identified with peaceful
civilization, her worship was always distinguished by wild and
fantastic excitement, her priests and devotees rushing through
the woods at night with torches burning, maiming and
wounding each other, and producing all the din that was pos-
sible from the clashing of cymbals, the shrill notes of pipes,
and the frantic voice of song. To account for this peculiarity
of her worship, which must have been intended to com-
memorate some great sorrow, the story was told of how she
had loved the young Phrygian shepherd, Attis, whose extra-
ordinary beauty had also won the heart of the king's daughter
of Pessinus ; how he was destined to marry the princess, and
how the goddess, suddenly appearing, spread terror and con-
sternation among the marriage guests. Attis escaped to the
mountains, maimed himself, and died beside a pine tree, into
which his soul transmigrated, while from his blood sprang
violets like a wreath round the tree. The goddess implored
Zeus to restore her lover. This could not be. But so much
was granted that his body should never decay, that his hair
should always grow, and that his little finger should always
move. The pine was a symbol of winter and sadness, the
violet of spring and its hopeful beauty.
The first priests of Rhea-Kybele were the Kuretes and
Korybantes, for whom it was also claimed that they had been
the first beings of mere human form and capacity that had
appeared on the earth, having sprung from the mountain side
Zeus, or Jupiter.
ZF.IJS OR JUPITER. 35
like trees. The great centre of her worsliip was always at
Pessinus in Phrygia, under the shadow of Mount Dindymon,
on which was a cave containing what was believed to be the
oldest of her sanctuaries. Within this sanctuary was the
tomb of Attis, and an ancient image of the goddess in the
shape of a stone, which was said to have fallen from heaven.
Tlie first temple at Pessinus had been erected, it was said, by
King Midas. Successive rulers of Phrygia maintained and
endowed it so liberally that it continued to be a place of im-
portance long after Phrygian civilization had sunk. Spread-
ing from this centre, the worship of Kybele took hold first in
the neighbouring towns of Sardis, Magnesia, Smyrna, Ephe-
sus, Lampsakos, and Kyzikos ; thence to Athens, and in later
times to the mountainous district of Arcadia, where it was
locally believed that Zeus had been born and that the creation
of mankind had taken place.
In Plate II. Rhea is represented as Mater turrita, or turrigera. In Plate I.
she appears as the goddess of mountain tops, riding on a lion, and holding a
sceptre in one hand and a cymbal in the other ; beside her the moon and a
star. At other times she is seated on a throne with a lion in her lap, or with
a lion at each side, or in a chariot drawn by lions or panthers.
ZEUS OR JUPITER.
(plates II. AND III.)
Third and last on the throne of the highest god sat Zeus.
The fertile imagination of early times had, as we have seen,
placed his abode on Mount Olympos in Thessaly. But a
later and more practical age usually conceived him as in-
habiting a region above the sky, where the source of all light
was supposed to be. He was god of the broad light of day.
36 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
as his name implies, had control of all the phenomena of the
heavens, and accordingly sudden changes of weather, the
gathering of clouds, and, more than all, the burst of a thun-
der-storm made his presence felt as a supernatural being in-
terested in the affairs of mankind. Hence such titles as
'cloud-gatherer,' *god of the murky cloud,' 'thunderer,' and
'mighty thunderer,' were those by which he was most fre-
quently invoked. On the other hand, the serenity and bound-
less extent of the sky over which he ruled, combined with the
never-failing recurrence of day, led him to be regarded as an
everlasting god: 'Zeus who was and is and shall be.' To in-
dicate this feature of his character he was styled Kronides
or Kronion, a title which, though apparently derived from
his father Kronos, must have assumed even at a very early
time a special significance; otherwise we should expect to
find it applied also to his two brothers, Poseidon and Hades.
The eagle soaring beyond vision seemed to benefit by its
approach to Zeus, and came to be looked on as sacred to him.
Similarly high mountain peaks derived a sanctity from their
nearness to the region of light, and were everywhere in
Greece associated with his worship, many of them furnishing
titles by which he was locally known — as, for instance, Aet-
naeos, a title derived from Mount ^tna in Sicily, or Ata-
byrios, from a mountain in Rhodes. Altars to him and
even temples were erected on hill tops, to reach which by
long toiling, and then to see the earth spread out small be-
neath, was perhaps the best preparation for approaching him
in a proper spirit. In contrast with this, and as testimony to
the saying of Hcsiod that Zeus Kronides lived not only in
the pure air but also at the roots of the earth and in men,
we find the low ground of Dodona in Epiros viewed with
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 37
peculiar solemnity as a spot where direct communion was to
be enjoyed with him. A wind was heard to rustle in the
branches of a sacred oak when the god had any communica-
tion to make, the task of interpreting it devolving on a priest-
hood called Selli. A spring rose at the foot of the oak, and
sacred pigeons rested among its leaves, the story being that
they had first drawn attention to the oracular powers of the
tree. It should here be noted that the real importance of this
worship of Zeus at Dodona belonged to exceedingly early
times, and that in the primitive religion of the Italian,
German, and Celtic nations the oak was regarded with similar
reverence.
As the highest god, and throughout Greece worshipped as
such, he was styled the father of gods and men, the ruler and
preserver of the world. He was believed to be possessed of
every form of power, endued with wisdom, and in his do-
minion over the human race partial to justice, and with no
limit to his goodness and love. Zeus orders the alternation
of day and night, the seasons succeed at his command, the
winds obey him, now he gathers, now scatters the clouds, and
bids the gentle rain fall to fertilize the fields and meadows.
He watches over the administration of law and justice in the
state, lends majesty to kings, and protects them in the exer-
cise of their sovereignty. He observes attentively the general
intercourse and dealings of men — everywhere demanding and
rewarding uprightness, truth, faithfulness, and kindness ;
everywhere punishing wrong, falseness, faithlessness, and
cruelty. As the eternal father of men, he was believed to be
kindly at the call of the poorest and most forsaken. The
homeless beggar looked to him as a merciful guardian who
punished tlie heartless, and delighted to reward pity and sym-
38 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
pathy. To illustrate his rule on earth we would here give a
familiar story.
Philemon aiid Baukis, an aged couple of the poorer
class, were living peacefully and full of piety towards the
gods in their cottage in Phrygia, when Zeus, who often visited
the earth, disguised, to inquire into the behaviour of men,
paid a visit, in passing through Phrygia on such a journey, to
these poor old people, and was received by them very kindly
as a weary traveller, which he pretended to be. Bidding him
welcome to the house, they set about preparing for their
guest, who was accompanied by Hermes, as excellent a meal
as they could afford, and for this purpose were about to kill
the only goose they had left, when Zeus interfered ; for he
was touched by their kindliness and genuine piety, and that
all the more because he had observed among the other in-
habitants of the district nothing but cruelty of disposition
and a habit of reproaching and despising the gods. To
punish this conduct he determined to visit the country with a
destroying flood, but to save from it Philemon and Baukis,
the good aged couple, and to reward them in a striking man-
ner. To this end he revealed himself to them before opening
the gates of the great flood, transformed their poor cottage
on the hill into a splendid temple, installed the aged pair as
his priest and priestess, and granted their prayer that they
might both die together. When after many years death over-
took them they were changed into two trees, that grew side
by side in the neighborhood — an oak and a linden.
While in adventures of this kind the highest god of the
Greeks appears on the whole in a character worthy of admira-
tion, it will be seen that many other narratives represent him
as labouring under human weaknesses and error. The first
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 39
wife of Zeus was Metis (Cleverness), a daughter of the
friendly Titan Okeanos. But as Fate, a dark and omnis-
cient being, had predicted that Metis would bear Zeus a son
who should surpass his father in power, Zeus followed in a
manner the example of his father Kronos, by swallowing Metis
before she was delivered of her child, and then from his own
head gave birth to the goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athene (Mi-
nerva). Next he married, it is said, but only for a time, The-
mis (Justice), and became the father of Astraea and the
Horae. His chief love was, however, always for Hera (Juno,)
with her many charms, who, after withstanding his entreaties
for a time, at length gave way, and the divine marriage took
place amid great rejoicing, not on the part of the gods of hea-
ven alone, for those other deities also, to whom the manage-
ment of the world had been in various departments delegated,
had been invited, and went gladly to the splendid ceremony.
Hera became the mother of Hebe, Ares (Mars), and
Hephsestos (Vulcan). Zeus did not, however, remain con-
stant and true to the marriage with his sister, but secretly in-
dulged a passion for other goddesses, and often, under the dis-
guise of various forms and shapes, approached even the daugh-
ters of men. Hera gave way to indignation when she found
out such f!oings. From secret intercourse of this kind De-
meter (Ceres) bore him Persephone (Proserpina) ; Leto
(Latona) became the mother of Apollo and Artemis
(Diana) ; Dione, the mother of Aphrodite (Venus) ; Mne-
mosyne, of the Muses; Eurynome, of the Charites
(Graces); Semele, of Dionysos (Bacchus); Maia, of
Hermes (Mercur}^) ; Alkmene, of Herakles (Hercules) ;
several of the demigods, of whom we shall aften\-ards speak
being sons of Zeus by other and different mothers.
40 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
These numerous love passages of Zeus (and other gods as
well), related by ancient poets, appear to us, as it is known
they appeared to the right-thinking men amongst the ancients
themselves, unbecoming of the great ruler of the universe.
The wonder is how such stories came into existence ; unless
indeed this be accepted as a satisfactory explanation of their
origin, — that they are simply the different versions of one
great myth of the marriage of Zeus, peculiar in early times to
the different districts of Greece, each version representing
him as having but one wife, and being constant to her. Her
name and the stories connected with their married life would
be more or less different in each case. In after-time, when
the various tribes of the Greeks became united into one peo-
ple, and the various myths that had sprung up independently
concerning Zeus came, through the influence of poets and by
other means, to be known to the whole nation, we may ima-
gine that the only way that presented itself of uniting them
all into one consistent narrative was by degrading all the
wives, except Hera, to the position of temporary acquaint-
ances. It is, however, unfortunate that we cannot now trace
every one of his acquaintances of this sort back to a primitive
position of sufficiently great local importance. At the same
time, enough is known to justify this principle of interpreta-
tion, not only with regard to the apparent improprieties in
the conduct of Zeus, but also of the other deities wherever
they occur. Properly Zeus could have but one wife, such be-
ing the limit of marriage among the Greeks.
Of the several localities in Greece where the worship of
Zeus was conducted with unusual ceremony and devotion, the
two most deserving of attention are Athens and Olympia. In
Athens the change of season acting on the temperament of
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 41
tlic i)cople seemed to produce a change in their feelings to-
wards the god. For from early spring and throughout the
summer they called him the friendly god (Zeus Meilichios),
offered imblic sacrifices at his altars, and on three occasions
held high festival in his honour. But as the approach of win-
ter made itself felt, thoughts of his anger returned, he was
called the cruel god (Zeus Maemaktes), and an endeavour
was made to propitiate him by a festival called Maemakteria.
At Olympia, in Elis, a festival, which from an early period
had assumed national importance, was held in his honour in
the month of July (Hekatombaeon) every fifth year, that
is, after the lapse of four clear years. It lasted at least five
and perhaps seven days, commencing with sacrifice at the
great altar of Zeus, in which the deputies from the various
states, with their splendid retinues, took part. This ceremony
over, a series of competitions took place in foot-racing, leap-
ing from a raised platform v/ith weights {Jialtcres) in the hands
to give impetus, throwing the disk (a circular plate of metal
or stone weighing about 8 lb.), boxing with leather thongs
twisted round the arm and sometimes with metal rings in the
hands, horse-racing, chariot-racing with two or four horses,
and lastly, a competition of musicians and poets. The lists
were open to all free-born Greeks, except such as had been
convicted of crime, or such as had entailed in former contests
the penalty of a fine and had refused to pay it. Intending
competitors were required to give sureties that they had gone
through a proper course of training, and that they would abide
by the decision of the judges. Slaves and foreigners might
look on, but the presence of married women was forbidden.
The entire management of the festival was in the hands of a
board elected from their own number by the people of Elis.
42 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The plain of Olympia, where this national meeting in honour
of Zeus was held, is now a waste ; but some idea may still be
gathered from the description of Pausanias of its magnificent
temple and the vast number of statues that studded the sacred
grove. Within the temple was a statue of the god, in gold
and ivory, the work of Pheidias, the most renowned of an-
cient sculptors. It was forty feet in height, and for its beauty
and grandeur was reckoned one of the Seven Wonders*
of the ancient world.
As some would have it, these games had been established
by Zeus himself to commemorate his victory over the Titans,
and even the gods in early times are said to have taken part
in the contests. The people of Elis maintained that the fes-
tival had been founded by Pelops, while others ascribed that
honour to Herakles. The usual method of reckoning time
was by the interval between these festivals, one Olympiad
being equal to four years. The first festival from which the
reckoning started, as ours does from the birth of Christ, oc-
curred in the year 776 b. c.
The birth and early life of Zeus, up to the period, when,
after a long and fierce war around Olympos, he defeated the
Titans and established his right to reign in the place of his
flither Kronos, has already been related. That his two
* The seven wonders of the ancient world were — (i) The Pyramids of
Eg\pt ; (2) The Walls of Babylon ; (3) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon ;
(4) The Temple of Diana at Ephesus ; (5) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia ;
(6) The Mausoleum at Halicamassus ; (7) The Colossus at Rhodes; all
monuments of art of extraordinary beauty or stupendous dimensions. In
statues of gold and ivory, such as that of Zeus at Olympia, and many othei-s,
the face and nude parts of the body were made of ivory, while the hair and
drapery were reproduced in gold, richly worked in parts with enamel. We
obtain an idea of the expense of such splendid statues, from the statement that
a single lock of the hair of Zeus at Olympia cost about ^^250 of our money.
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 43
brothers, to whose assistance he had been greatly indebted
during the war, might have a share in the management of the
world, lots were cast ; and to Poseidon fell the control of the
sea and rivers, while Hades obtained the government of the
world under the earth. Opposition, however, on the part of
the kindred of Kronos had not yet ceased, and the new dy-
nasty of gods had to encounter a fresh outbreak of war even
more terrible than had been that of the Titans, the enemy be-
ing in this case the Giants, a race of beings sprung from the
blood of Uranos. The Giants took up their position on the
peninsula of Pallene, which is separated from Mount Olympos
by a bay. Their king and leader was Porphyrion, their
most powerful combatant Alkyoneus, against whom Zeus
and Athene took up arms in vain. Their mother Earth had
made the Giants proof against all the weapons of the gods —
not, however, against the weapons of mortals; and knowing
this Athene brought Herakles on the scene. Sun and moon
ceased to shine at the command of Zeus, and the herb was cut
down which had furnished the giants with a charm against
wounds. The huge Alkyoneus, who had hurled great rocks
afthe Olympians, fell by the arrows of Herakles; and Por-
phyrion while in the act of seizing Hera, was overpowered.
Of the others, Pallas and Enkelados were slain by Athene,
the boisterous Polybotes fled, but on reaching the island of
Kos was overtaken by a rock hurled at him by Poseidon and
buried under it, while Ephialtes had to yield to Apollo,
Rhoetos to Dionysos and Klytios to Hecate or Hephaes-
tos. To the popular mind this war with the Giants had a
greater interest than the Titanomachia. Ultimately the two
were confounded with each other.
These wars over, there succeeded a period which was called
44 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
the Silver Age on earth. Men were rich then, as in the
Golden Age under the rule of Kronos, and lived in plenty;
but still they wanted the innocence and contentment which
were the true sources of human happiness in the former age ;
and, accordingly, while living in luxury and delicacy, they
became overbearing in their manners- to the highest degree,
were never satisfied, and forgot the gods, to whom, in their
confidence of prosperity and comfort, they denied the rever-
ence they owed. To punish them, and as a warning against
such habits, Zeus swept them away and concealed them under
the earth, where they continued to live as daemons or spirits,
not so powerful as the spirits of the men of the Golden Age,
but yet respected by those who came after them.
Then followed the Bronze Age, a period of constant quar-
relling and deeds of violence. Instead of cultivated lands and
a life of peaceful occupations and orderly habits, there came
a day when everywhere might was right ; and men, big and
powerful as they were, became physically worn out, and sank
into the lower world without leaving a trace of their having
existed, and without a claim to a future spiritual life.
Finally came the Iron Age, in which enfeebled mankind
had to toil for bread with their hands, and, bent on gain, did
their best to overreach each other. Dike or Astrsea, the
goddess of justice and good faith, modesty and truth, turned
her back on such scenes, and retired to Olympos, while Zeus
determined to destroy the human race by a great flood. The
whole of Greece lay under water, and none but Deukalion
and his wife Pyrrha were saved. Leaving the summit of
Parnassos, where they had escaped the flood, they were
commanded by the gods to become the founders of a new
race of men — that is, the present race. To this end, it is said,
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 45
they cast around them as they advanced stones, which pre-
sently assumed the forms of men,, who, when the flood had
quite disappeared, commenced to cultivate the land again and
spread themselv-es in all directions; but being little better
than the race that had been destroyed, they, too, often drew
down the displeasure of Zeus and suffered at his hands.
Among the Romans Jupiter held a place of honour cor-
responding in some degree to that held by Zeus among the
Greeks. His favorite title was Optimus T^Iaximus. His name
being of the same derivation as that of Zeus, indicates his
function as god of the broad light of day and armed with the
weapon of lightning. Temples and altars were erected for
the purposes of his worship, statues were raised, and public
festivals held in his honour. As to sacrifice, both he and
Zeus delighted most in bulls. To both the eagle, the oak,
and the olive were sacred.
The growth of religious feeling precedes the development of artistic faculty
in man, and accordingly we find that in the earliest ages the presence of a god
was symbolized only by some natural object. In the case of Zeus this was an
oak-tree, while in the case of Rhea-Kybele it was, as we have seen, a stone
which was believed to have fallen from heaven. The first artistic eiforts to
reproduce the image of a god were called xoana, and consisted of a pillar
rudely shaped like a human figure seen at a distance, the artist's attention
being mostly directed to the head. Of this kind was the figure of Zeus
Labrandeus as represented on the coins of Caria, the figure of Zeus with three
eyes at Argos, and the figure of him without ears at Crete, Piety caused these
rude and strange images to be retained till long after the art of sculpture had
become equal to the production of imposing figures. The gold and ivory
statue of Zeus at Olympia, of which mention has already been made, repre-
sented him seated on his throne, and some small idea may still be gained of it
from what is no doubt a copy of it on the coins of Elis. The bust of plate iii.,
known as the Zeus of Otricoli, is perhaps the best existing example of tlie face
of Zeus as conceived by the Greek sculptors. The attributes of Zeus are the
eagle, a sceptre, a thunderbolt, and, in the case of an ancient image in Caria,
an axe. He is represented sometimes with Hera by his side, sometimes with
46 DRITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Atbeiie, or with bodi, or with Athene and Hejukles. When he lca\-es hi»
fcrone it is gejoeralbr to rise in might against an enen>y such as the Giants, and
in these cases he is always armed with the thunderbolt, and either stands in die
act of hurling it, or drives in a chariot attended by other gods, as he is fre-
quently TO be seen on the ancient painted vases. Another fa\-ourite subject ou
these vases is the birth of Adiejne frvmi the head of Zeus. In works of art no
distinction is n-..ide between Zeus and Jupiter, for this reason, that Rome had
no distinctive sculpture of its own. Hate vii. represents the inlmcy of Zeus
in Crete.
HER.\, OR JUXO,
(^PLATES IV. A X D Y.),
Was a di^'ine peisonification of what may be called the female
power of the heavens — that is, the atmosphere, with its fickle
and \-et fertilizing properties ; while Zeus represented those
properties of the hea>Tens that appeared to be of a male order.
To their marriage was traced all the blessings of nature, and
when they met, as on Mount Ida in a golden cloud, sweet
fragrant floweis sprang up around them. A tree with golden
apples grew up at their marriage feast, and stre.mis of ambro-
sia flowed past their couch in the happy island of the west.
That marriage ceremony took place, it was believed, in spring,
and to keep up a recollection of it, an annual festi\"al was held
at that season in her honour. Like the sudden and ^-iolent
storms, however, which in certain seasons break the peaceful-
ness of the sky of Greece, the meetings of this divine pair
often resulted in temporary quarrels and wrangling, the blame
of which was usually traced to Hera ; poets, and most of all
Homer, in the Iliad, describing her as frequently jealous,
angrv", and quarrelsome, her character as lofty and proud,
cold, and not free from bitterness. Of these scenes of discord
we have several instances, as when {Uiad i. 5S6) Zeus actually
Hera, or Juno.
.vi"
HERA OR JUNO. 47
beat her, and threw her son Hephaetos out of Olympos ; or
(Iliad XV. 18) when, vexed at her plotting against Herakles,
he hung her out of Olympos with two great weights (earth
and sea) attached to her feet, and her arms bound by golden
fetters — an illustration of how all the phenomena of the visible
sky were thought to hang dependent on the highest god of
heaven; or again (Iliad i. 396) when Hera, with Poseidon
and Athene, attempted to chain down Zeus, and would have
succeeded had not Thetis brought to his aid the sea giant
Aegaeon. As goddess of storms, Hera was consistently de-
scribed as the mother of Ares, herself taking part in war occa-
sionally, as against the Trojans, and enjoying the honour of
festivals, accompanied by warlike contests, as at Argos, where
the prize was a sacred shield.
Her favourite companions, in periods of peace, were the
Charites (Graces) and the Horae (Seasons), of which the
latter are also found in company of her husband. Her con-
stant attendant was Iris, goddess of the rainbow. The pea-
cock, in its pride and gorgeous array, and the cuckoo as herald
of the spring, were sacred to her. In the spring-time occurred
her principal festival, at which the ceremony consisted of an
imitation of a wedding, a figure of the goddess being decked
out in bridal attire, and placed on a couch of willow branches,
while wreaths and garlands of flowers were scattered about,
because she loved them. Another singular festival was held
in her honour every fifth year at Olympia in Elis, the cere-
mony consisting in the presentation of a splendidly embroi-
dered mantle {pcplos) to the goddess, and races in which only
girls and unmarried women took part, running with their hair
streaming down, and wearing short dresses, — the judges on
the occasion being sixteen married women.
48 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The character, however, in which Hera was most generally-
viewed was that of queen of heaven, and as the faithful wife
of Zeus claiming the highest conceivable respect and honour.
Herself the ideal of womanly virtues, she made it a principal
duty to protect them among mortals, punishing with severity
all trespassers against her moral law — but, naturally, none so
much as those who had been objects of her husband's affec-
tions— as, for instance, Semele, the mother of Dionysos, or
Alkmene, the mother of Herakles. Her worship was re-
stricted for the most part to women, who, according to the
various stages of womanhood, regarded her in a different light :
some as a bride, styling her Parthenia; others as a wife,
with the title of Gamelia, Zygia or Teleia; and others
again in the character of Eileithyia, as helpful at child-
birth. Of these phases of her life that of bride was obviously
associable with the phenomena of the heavens in the spring-
time, when the return of dazzling light and warmth spread
everywhere affectionate gaiety and the blooming of new life.
As queen of heaven and wife of Zeus she will be found, in
connection with the legends of Argos and its neighbourhood,
possessed, from motives of jealousy, of a hatred towards the
nocturnal phenomena of the sky, and especially the moon, as
personified by the wandering lo, whom she placed under the
surveillance of Argos, a being with innumerable eyes, and ap-
parently a personification of the starry system.
The town of Argos, with its ancient legends, which clearly
betray some powerful sensitiveness to the phenomena of light,
was the oldest and always the chief centre of this worship of
Hera. There was her principal temple, and within it a statue
of the goddess, by Polykleitos, which ahnost rivalled in
grandeur and beauty the Zeus at Olympia, by PhcidiiLs. Next
HERA OR JUNO. 49
came Samos, with its si)lendid temple erected for her by Poly-
kratcs. In Corinth also, in Euboea, Boeotia, Crete, and even
in Lakinion, in Italy, she had temples and devotees.
Juno, the Roman equivalent of Hera, was mostly regarded
from the maternal i)oint of view, and in accordance with that
frequently styled Lucina, the helper at child-birth. Temples
were erected and festivals held in her honour — of the festivals
that called Matronalia being the chief. It was held on the
ist of March of each year, and could only be participated in
by women, who went with girdles loose, and on the occasion
received presents from husbands, lovers, or friends, making
presents in turn to their servants. The spirits that guarded
over women were called in early times Junones.
The image of Hera is said to have consisted at first of a long pillar, as in
Argos, and in Samos of a plank, and to have assumed a human form only in
comparatively late times. The statue of her by Polykleitos, mentioned above,
was of gold and ivory and of colossal size. It represented her seated on a
tlirone, holding in one hand a pomegranate, the symbol of marriage, and in
the other a sceptre on which sat a cuckoo. On her head was a crown orna-
mented with figures of the Gharites (Graces) and Horae. We can still in
some measure recall the appearance of the statue from the marble head known
;)S the Juno Ludovisi (on plate iv.), from the coins of Argos, and from several
ancient heads in marble of great beauty. Praxiteles made a colossal statue of
h-" :n the character of the protectress of marriage rites, and also a group of
her seated, with Athene and Hebe standing beside her. On the painted vases
the scene in which she most frequently occurs is that where she appears before
Paris to be judged of her beauty.
5u DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE.
(plate v.)
It has already been told how, when all the resources had
failed which the Titans could bring to bear for the restora-
tion of Kronos to the throne, the government of the world
was divided by lot among his three sons,' Zeus, Poseidon,
Hades. To Zeus fell, besides a general supremacy, the con-
trol of the heavens ; and we have seen how he and his con-
sort Hera, representing the phenomena of that region, were
conceived as divine persons possessed of a character and per-
forming actions such as were suggested by those phenomena.
To Poseidon fell the control of the element of water, and he
in like manner was conceived as a god, in whose character
and actions were reflected the phenomena of that element,
whether as the broad navigable sea, or as the cloud which
gives fertility to the earth, growth to the grain and vine, or
as the fountain which refreshes man, cattle, and horses. A
suitable symbol of his power, therefore, was the horse, ad-
mirably adapted as it is both for labour and battle, whilst its
swift springing movement compares finely with the advance
of a foaming wave of the sea. ^' He yokes to the chariot,"
sings Homer in the Iliad, " his swift steeds, with feet of brass
and manes of gold, and himself, clad in gold, drives over the
waves. The beasts of the sea sport round him, leaving their
lurking places, for they know him to be their lord. The sea
rejoices and makes way for him. His horses speed lightly,
and never a drop touches the brazen axle."
It may have been to illustrate a tendency of the sea to en-
croach in many places on the coast, as well as to show the
Hera, or Juno.
Poseidon, or Neptune.
: 0 1
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE. 5 I
importance attached to a good supply of water, that the myth
originated which tells us of the dispute between Poseidon
and Athene for the sovereignty of the soil of Attika. To
settle the dispute, it was agreed by the gods thai; whichever
of the two should perform the greatest wonder, and at the
same time confer the most useful gift on the land, should be
entitled to rule over it. With a stroke of his trident Posei-
don caused a brackish spring to well up on the Acropolis of
Athens, a rock 400 feet high, and previously altogether
without water. But Athene in her turn caused the first olive
tree to grow from the same bare rock, and since that was
deemed the greatest benefit that could be bestowed, obtained
for all time sovereignty of the land, which Poseidon there-
upon spitefully inundated.
A similar dispute, and ending also unfavourably for him,
was that which he had with Hera concerning the district of
Argos. But in this case his indignation took the opposite
course of causing a perpetual drought. Other incidents of the
same nature were his disputes with Helios for the possession
of Corinth, with Zeus for ^gina, with Dionysos for Naxos,
and with ApoUo for Delphi. The most obvious illustrations,
however, of the encroaching tendency of the sea are the mon-
sters which Poseidon sent to lay waste coast lands, such as those
which Hesione and Andromeda were offered to appease.
In the Iliad Poseidon appears only in his capacity of ruler
of the sea, inhabiting a brilliant palace in its depths, travers-
ing its surface in a chariot, or stirring the powerful billows
till the earth shakes as they crash upon the -shore. This limi-
tation of his functions, though possibly to be accounted for
by the nature of the poem, is remarkable for this reason, that
among the earliest myths associated with his worship are those
52 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
in which he is represented in connection with well-watered
plains and valleys. In the neighbourhood of Lerna, in the
parched district of Argos, he had struck the earth with his
trident, and caused three springs to well up for love of
Amymone, whom he found in distress, because she could
not obtain the water which her father Danaos had sent her
to fetch. In Thessaly a stroke of his trident had broken
through the high mountains, which formerly shut in the whole
country and caused it to be frequently flooded with water.
By that stroke he formed the pleasant vale of Tempe, through
which the water collecting from the hills might flow away.
A district well supplied with water was favourable to pasture
and the rearing of horses, and in this way the horse came to
be doubly his symbol, as god of the water of the sea and on
the land. In Arcadia, with its mountainous land and fine
streams and valleys, he was worshipped side by side with
Demeter, with whom, it was believed, he begat that winged
and wonderfully fleet horse Arion. In Boeotia, where he
was also worshipped, the mother of Arion was said to have
been Erinys, to whom he had appeared in the form of a
horse. With Medusa he became the father of the winged
horse Pegasos, which was watered at springs by Nymphs,
and appeared to poets as the symbol of poetic inspiration.
And again, as an instance of his double capacity as god of the
sea and pasture streams, the ram, with the golden fleece for
which the Argonauts sailed, was said to have been his offspring
by Theophane, who had been changed into a lamb. Chief
among his other offspring were, on the one hand, the giant
Antaeos, who derived from his mother Earth a strength
which made him invincible, till Herakles lifting him in the
air overpowered him, and the Kyklops, Polyphemos : on
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE. 53
the other hand, Pelias, who sent out the Argonauts, and
Neleus the father of Nestor.
To return to the instances of rebellious conduct on the
part of Poseidon, it appears that after the conclusion of the
war with the Giants a disagreement arose between him and
Zeus, the result of which was that Poseidon was suspended
for the period of a year from the control of the sea, and was
further obliged during the time to serve, along with Apollo,
Laomedon the King of Troy, and to help to build the walls
of that city. Some say that the building of the walls was
voluntary on the part of both gods, and was done to test the
character of Laomedon, who afterwards refused to give Posei-
don the reward agreed upon. Angry at this, the god de-
vastated the land by a flood, and sent a sea-monster, to ap-
pease which Laomedon was driven to offer his daughter He-
sione as a sacrifice. Herakles, however, set the maiden
free and slew the monster. Thus defeated, Poseidon relented
none of his indignation towards the Trojans, and would have
done them much injury in after times, when they were at war
with the Greeks, but for the interference of Zeus.
Though worshipped generally throughout Greece, it was in
the seaport towns that the most remarkable zeal was displayed
to obtain his favour. Temples in his honour, sanctuaries, and
public rejoicings were to be met with in Thessaly, Boeotia,
Arcadia, at Aegae, and Helike, on the coast of Achaea, at
Pylos in [Messenia, at Elis, in the island of Samos, at Corinth,
Nauplia, Troezen, in the islands of Kalauria, Euboea, Skyros,
and Tenos, at Mycale, Taenarum, Athens, and on the Isthmus
— that belt of land which connects Peloponnesos with the
rest of Greece. In the island of Tenos an annual festival
was held in his honour, at which he was worshipped in the cha-
54 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
racter of a physician. People crowded to the festival from
neighbouring islands, and spent the time in banquets, sacrifice,
and common counsel. But chief of all the gatherings in his
honour was that held on the Isthmus of Corinth in the au-
tumn, twice in each Olympiad — a festival which had been es-
tablished by Theseus, and in reputation stood next to the
Olympian games, like them also serving the purpose of main-
taining among the Greeks of distant regions the consciousness
of their common origin. The Corinthians had the right of
arranging and managing them, the Athenians having also cer-
tain privileges. It was in his double capacity of ruler of the
sea and as the first to train and employ horses that the honours
of this festival were paid to him. His temple, with other
sanctuaries, stood in a pine grove, a wreath from which was
the prize awarded to the victors. The prize had originally
been a wreath of parsley. In this sacred pine grove was to be
seen the Argo, the ship of the Argonauts, dedicated to
Poseidon as a memorial of the earliest enterprise at sea;
and there also stood the colossal bronze statue of the god,
which the Greeks raised to commemorate the splendid naval
victory gained over the Persians at Salamis. Horses and bulls
were sacrificed to him, the method of performing the sacrifice
being to throw them into the sea. It was the practice of fortu-
nate survivors of shipwreck to hang up some memento of
their safety in one of his temples.
The Romans, living mostly as herdsmen and farmers in early
times, had little occasion to propitiate the god of the sea, and
it was prol)ably, therefore, rather as the father of streams
that they erected a temple to Neptunus in the Campus
Martius, and held a festival in his honour attended with
games, feasting, and enjoyment like that of a fair.
AMPHITRITE. 55
Between Zeiis and Poseidon there is, in works of art, such likeness as would
be expected between two brothers. But Poseidon is by far the more powerful
of the two physically — his build, like that of Herakles, expressing the greatest
conceivable strength. But unlike Herakles, his attitudes and especially his
head, are those of a god, not of an athlete. His features, one by one, resemble
those of Zeus, but his hair, instead of springing from his brow, falls in thick
masses over the temples, and is matted from the water. His attributes are a
trident and dolphin. Possibly the sacred figures of him in his temples repre-
sented him seated on a throne, and clad in the Ionian chiton. But in the
colossal statues of him erected on promontories and in harbours, to secure his
favour, he was always standing wearing only a slight scarf, which concealed
none of his powerful form, holding out a dolphin in his left, and the trident in
his right hand, often witli one foot raised on the prow of a vessel. In works
of art not connected directly with his worship he was figured (as on plate v.),
traversing the sea in a car drawn by Hippocamps, or other fabulous creatures
of the sea. In one of the pediments of the Parthenon tlie dispute between
him and Athene was represented.
AMPHITRITE,
The rightful wife of Poseidon, was the goddess of the sea,
had the care of its creatures, could stir the great waves, and
hurl them against rocks and cliffs. She was a daughter of
Okeanos and Tethys, or, according to another report, of
Nereus and Doris. Usually she was represented with flow-
ing hair and the toes of a crab protruding from her temples ;
.sometimes seated on the back of a triton or other creature
of the deep, alone among sea-animals and seaweed, or accom-
panying Poseidon. She may be compared with the sea-god-
dess of the Romans, Salacia, Neverita, and Venilia.
^6 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
HADES, OR PLUTO.
(PLATE VI.)
We have seen how Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon came to be con-
ceived as the three great deities who between them controlled
the elements of heavens, sky, and sea, and how a character
came to be ascribed to each of them such as was most natu-
rally suggested by the phenomena of the provinces of the
world in which they respectively ruled. But there still re-
mained a region which could not escape the observation of
people like the Greeks, gifted with so keen a sense of the va-
rious operations of nature. That region was, however, itself
invisible^ being under the surface of the earth. The growth
of vegetation was seen to be steadily upward, as if impelled
by some divine force below. The metals which experience
showed to be most precious to mankind could only be ob-
tained by digging into that dark region under the earth. Thi-
ther returned, after its day on earth was spent, every form of
life. In conceiving a god who should be supreme in the
management of this region, it was necessary to attribute a
double character to him : first, as the source of all the trea-
sures and wealth of the earth, as expressed in his name Plu-
ton ,• and secondly, as monarch of the dark realm inhabited
by the invisible shades of the dead, as expressed in his name
of Ai'des.
While by virtue of his power of giving fertility to vegeta-
tion, of swelling the seed cast into the furrows of the earthy
and of yielding treasures of precious metal, he was justly
viewed as a benevolent deity and a tnie friend of man, there
was another and very grim side to his character, in which he
Pluto and Proserpina.
Demeter, or Ceres.
Hestia, or Vesta.
HADES, OR PLUTO. 57
appears as the implacable, relentless god, whom no cost of sa-
crifice could persuade to permit any one who had once passed
his gates ever to return. For this reason, to die, to go to
Hades' house, to pass out of sight, to be lost in the darkness
of the lower world, was looked forward to as the dismal in-
evitable fate awaiting all men. Yet there must have been
some consolation in the belief that the life thus claimed by
him had been originally his gift, as were the means of com-
fort and pleasure in life thus cut off. In later times, when the
benevolent side of his character came more into view, assur-
ing hopes arose concerning a future happy life that robbed
death of its terrors. To impart such hopes was the purpose
of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
It seems to have been to make this union of two such oppo-
site powers in the person of one god more explicit that the
myth concerning his marriage with Persephone originated,
she being, as we shall afterwards see, a personification of young
blooming life. The grim god of the dead carries off by force
a young goddess full of life. But no new life issues from the
marriage. Yet she loved him, it would seem ; for when her
mother, Demeter (Ceres), implored her to come back' to
earth, her answer was that she had accepted from her husband
the half of a pomegranate, or apple of love as it was called,
and had eaten it. It is apparently in reference to this that
both Hades and Persephone are represented in works of art
holding each a fruit.
Hades, being a son of Rhea and Kronos, was entitled,
after the dethronement of the latter, to a share along with his
two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, in the management of
the world. They cast lots, and to Hades fell the dominion
over the lower world. The importance assigned to his domi-
58 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
nion may be judged from the fact of its monarch being a bro-
ther of Zeus, and styled, too, sometimes, ''Zeus of the lower
world."
With regard to the region where the realm of Hades was
to be looked for we find the ancient authorities at variance,
some representing it as in the under-world proper — that is,
under the crust of the earth, others in the remote west, in
Okeanos, where were the gloomy groves of Persephone. It
was entered from the upper world by any spot of sufficiently
sombre or wild natural aspect, particularly chasms with dark
waters such as inspire terror. The most celebrated place of
this kind was Lake Avernus, at Cumae in Italy, of which it
was said, as of the Dead Sea, that no bird tried to fly across
it but fell lifeless in its waters. Beyond these entrances was an
open gate through which all comers had to pass, and having
passed could not as a rule retrace a step. Exceptions to the
rule were made in favour of heroes such as Herakles and
Orpheus, who were permitted to visit the home of the dead,
and return alive. The entrance was guarded by the dog of
Hades, the dreaded Cerberus, a monster with three heads
and a serpent's tail, fawning on those who entered, but show-
ing his horrible teeth to those who tried to pass out. But be-
sides by this gateway, the lower was separated from the up-
per world by rivers with impetuous torrents, of which the
most famous was the Styx, a stream of such terrible aspect
that even the highest gods invoked it as witness of the truth
of their oaths. Across this river the departed were conveyed
by an aged ferryman appointed by the gods, and called Cha-
ron, but not until their bodies had been buried in the earth
above with all due ceremony of sacrifice and marks of affec-
tion. Till this was done, the souls of the departed had to
HADES, OR TLUTO. ' 59
wander listlessly about the farther bank of the Styx, a pros-
pect which was greatly dreaded by the ancients. For the
ferry Charon exacted a toll {iiauloti), to pay which a piece of
money {danakc) was placed in the mouth of the dead at bu-
rial.
The other rivers of the under-world were named Ache-
ron, that is, the river of "eternal woe"; Pyriphlege-
thon, the stream of "fire"; and Kokytos, the river of
" weeping and wailing." To these is added, by a later myth,
Lethe, the river of " forge t fulness " — so called because its
waters were believed to possess the property of causing the
departed who drank of them to forget altogether their former
circumstances in the upper world. The purport of this myth
was to explain and establish the idea that the dead could not
take with them into the realm of everlasting peace the con-
sciousness of the pains and sorrows of their lot on earth. In
the waters of Lethe they drank a happy oblivion of all past
suffering, wants, and troubles, — an idea of the means of for-
getting sorrow which later poets have made frequent use of.
In the last book of the Odyssey the souls of the slain
suitors, conceived as small winged beings, are described as
being conducted to the realm of Hades by Hermes in his ca-
pacity of Psychopompos (see Plate VI). The way is dark
and gloomy. They pass the streams of Okeanos, the white
rock, the gates of Helios, the people of dreams, and at last
reach the Asphodel meadow, where the spirits of the dead
inhabit subterraneous caves.
With regard to the condition of the dead under the do-
minion of Hades, the belief was that they led a shadowy sort
of apparent life, in which, as mere reflections of their former
selves, they continued as in a dream, at any rate without dis-
6o DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
tinct consciousness, to perform the labours and carry on the
occupations to whicli they had been accustomed on earth. It
was only to favoured individuals like the Theban seer,
Teiresias, of whom we have more to say afterwards, that
the privilege of complete consciousness was granted. Such
was the sad condition of the dead ; and how they bore it may
be guessed from the complaint of Achilles to Odysseus, in
the Odyssey: " I would rather toil as a day-labourer on the
earth than reign here a prince of dead multitudes. ' ' Occasion-
ally the shades of the dead were permitted to appear to their
friends on earth. It was also possible to summon them by a
sacrifice, the blood of which, when they had drunk of it,
restored consciousness and speech, so as to enable them to
communicate with the living.
We must, however, clearly distinguish between this under-
world as the abiding place of the great mass of the dead, and
two other regions where spirits of the departed were to be
found, — the one Elysion (the Elysian Fields), with the
islands of the blest, and the other Tartaros. The former
region was most commonly placed in the remotest West, and
the latter as far below the earth as the heavens are above it.
In early times it appears to have been believed that Elysion
and the happy islands were reserved less for the virtuous and
good than for certain favourites of the gods. There, under
the sovereignty of Kronos, they lived again a kind of second
golden age of perpetual duration. But in later times there
spread more and more the belief in a happy immortality re-
served for all the good, and particularly for those who had
been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries (sec below).
Tartaros, on the other hand, was the region where those
were condemned to punishment who had committed any crime
HADES, OR PLUTO. 6 1
against the gods while on earth. What was the misery of
their condition we shall be able to judge from the following
account of a few of the best known of those condemned to
such punishment, — asTantalos, Ixion, Sisyphos, Tityos,
and the Dana'ides.
Tantalos, once a king of Phrygia, had given offence to
the gods by his overbearing and treachery, as well as by the
cruelty which he had practised on his own son. For this he
was doomed to Tartaros, and there to suffer from an unceasing
dread of being crushed by a great rock that hung above his
head, he the while standing up to the throat in water, yet
possessed of a terrible thirst which he could never quench,
and a gnawing hunger which he tried in vain to allay with the
tempting fruits that hung over his head but withdrew at every
approach he made.
Ixion, once a sovereign of Thessaly, had, like Tantalos,
outraged the gods, and was in consequence sentenced to Tar-
taros, there to be lashed with serpents to a wheel which a
strong wind drove continually round and round.
Sisyphos, once king of Corinth, had by treachery and
hostility incurred the anger of the gods in a high degree, and
was punished in Tartaros by having to roll a huge stone up a
height, which he had no sooner done, by means of his utmost
exertion, than it rolled down again.
Tityos, a giant who once lived in Eubcea, had misused his
strength to outrage Leto (the mother of Apollo and Arte-
mis'), and was condemned by Zeus to Tartaros, where two
enormous vultures gnawed continually his liver, which always
grew again.
The Danaides, daughters of Danaos, king of Argos (of,
whom see below), were sentenced to Tartaros for the murder
62 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
of their husbands. The punishment prescribed for them was
to carry water, and continue to pour it into a broken cistern
or vase, the labour being all in vain, and going on for ever.
Hades and Persephone, however, were not only rulers
over the souls of the departed, but were also believed to exer-
cise the function of judges of mankind after death. In this
task they were assisted by three heroes who while on earth had
been conspicuous for wisdom and justice, — Minos, Rhada-
manthys, and ^akos, the last being also, apart from this,
the gate-keeper of the lower region, according to a later
opinion.
Both among the Greeks and Romans the worship of Pluton-
Hades was wide-spread, and the honours paid him great. In
Greece his principal temples were at Pylos, Athens, and Olym-
pia in Elis. The cypress, narcissus, and boxwood were sacred
to him. In Rome a great festival was held in his honour in the
month of February, at which sacrifices (^februationes) of black
bulls and goats were offered, and the officiating priests wore
wreaths of cypress, the whole ceremony extending over twelve
nights. The Ssecular Games, which were held once in a
century, were in his honour, and as a tribute to the dead.
In works of art Hades is represented as having inherited the same type of
face as his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, differing onl}^ in a certain grimness of
expression. His hair shades his brow in heavy masses. In attitude he is
either seated on a throne with Persephone by his side (as on plate vi.), or
standing in a chariot and carrying her off. His attributes are a sceptre like
that of Zeus, and a helmet, which, like the cloud cap of Siegfried in German
mythology, made its v/earer invisible. His attendaht is the three-headed dog
Cerberus. On the painted vases scenes of torment in Tartaros are not unfre-
quent — such, for example, as the Danaides pouring water into the broken
vase, or Ixion bound to the wheel, or Sisyphos pushing up the stone: Hcra-
kles carrying off Cerberus, and Oq:)heus on his memorable visit to bring back
Eurydikc, are also represented on the vases.
PERSEPHONE, OR PROSERPINA. 63
PERSEPHONE, or PROSERPINA,
(plate VI.,)
Or Persephoneia, also called Kora by the Greeks, and
by the Romans Libera, was a daughter of Zeus and De-
meter, and the wife of Aides, the marriage being childless.
Struck with the charms of her virgin beauty, Hades had ob-
tained the sanction of his brother Zeus to carry her off by
force ; and for this purpose, as the myth relates, he suddenly
rose up from a dark hole in the earth near to where she was
wandering in a flowery meadow not far from ^tna in Sicily,
plucking and gathering the narcissus, seized the lovely flower-
gatherer, and made ofl" with her to the under-world in a chariot
drawn by four swift horses, Hermes leading the way. Perse-
phone resisted, begged and implored gods and men to help
her ; but Zeus approving the transaction let it pass. In vain
Demeter searched for her daughter, traversing every land, or,
as other myths say, pursuing the escaped Hades with her yoke
of winged serpents, till she learned what had taken place from
the all-seeing and all-hearing god of the sun. Then she en-
treated with tears the gods to give her daughter back, and this
they promised to do provided she had not as yet tasted of
anything in the under-world. But by the time that Hermes,
who had been sent by Zeus to ascertain this, reached the
under-world, she had eaten the half of a pomegranate which
Hades had given her as an expression of love. For this reason
the return of Persephone to the upper world for good became
impossible. She must remain the wife of Hades. An arrange-
ment was however come to, by which she was to be allowed
to stay with her mother half the year on earth and among the
64 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
gods of Olympos, while the other half of the year was to be
spent with her husband below.
In this myth of Persephone-Kora, daughter of Zeus, the
god of the heavens, which by their warmth and rain produce
fertility, and of Demeter, the maternal goddess of the fertile
earth, we see that she was conceived as a divine personification
of the process of vegetation — in summer appearing beside her
mother in the light of the upper world, but in the autumn dis-
appearing, and in winter passing her time, like the seed,
under the earth with the god of the lower world. The decay
observed throughout Nature in autumn, the suspension of vege-
tation in winter, impressed the ancients, as it impresses us and
strikes modern poets, as a moral of the transitoriness of all
earthly life ; and hence the carrying off of Persephone ap-
peared to be simply a symbol of death. But the myth at the
same time suggests hope, and proclaims the belief that out of
death springs a new life, but apparently not a productive life,
and that men carried off by the god of the under-world will not
for ever remain in the unsubstantial region of the shades. This
at least appears to have been the sense in which the myth of
Persephone and her mother was presented to those initiated
into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which, as we have remarked
before, held out assuring hopes of the imperishableness of
human existence, and of an eternal real life to follow after death.
As queen of the shades Persephone had control over the vari-
ous dreaded beings whose occupation, like that of the Sirens,
was to beguile men to their death, or like that of the Erinys,
to avenge murder and all base crimes. She shared the honours
I)aid to her husband in Greece, lower Italy, and especially in
the island of Sicily. Temples of great beauty were erected
for her in the Greek Locri, and at Kyzikos on the Propontis.
DEMETER, OR CERES. 65
The principal festivals held in her honour in Greece occurred
in the autumn or in spring, the visitors at the former appear-
ing dressed in mourning to commemorate her being carried
oiT by Pluto, while at the spring festival all wore holiday gar-
ments to commemorate her return.
There remains, however, the important phase of her charac-
ter in which she returns to the upper world and is associated
with her mother Demeter. But this it will be more conve-
nient to consider in the next chapter. The attributes of Perse-
phone were ears of com and poppies. Her attribute as the
wife of Hades was a pomegranate ; her sacrifice consisted of
cows and pigs. In works of art she has a more youthful ap-
pearance, but otherwise closely resembles her mother Demeter.
The Roman Proserpina, though the name is clearly the same
as Persephone, appears to have had no hold on the religious
belief of the Roman nation, their goddess of the shades being
Libitina, or Lubentina.
DEMETER, or CERES,
(plate VI.,)
A daughter of Kronos and Rhea, was the goddess of the
earth in its capacity of bringing forth countless fruits, the all-
nourishing mother, and above all the divine being who watched
over the growth of grain, and the various products of vegeta-
tion most important to man. The first and grand thought in
her worship was the mysterious evolution of life out of the
seed which is cast into the ground and suffered to rot — a pro-
cess of nature which both St. Paul (i Corinthians xv. 35) and
St. John (xii. 24) compare with the attainment of a new life
through Christ. The seed left to rot in the ground was in the
5
66 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
keeping of her daughter Persephone, the goddess of the lower
world, the new life which sprang from it was the gift of Deme-
ter herself; and from this point of view the two goddesses,
mother and daughter, were inseparable. They were regarded
as "two in one," and styled "the great deities."
From being conceived as the cause of growth in the grain
Demeter next came to be looked on as having first introduced
the art of agriculture, and as being the source of the wealth
and blessings which attended the diligent practice of that art.
When Hades carried off her young loved daughter, Demeter,
with a mother's sorrow, lit her torch, and mounting her car
drawn by winged snakes, drove through all lands searching
for her, leaving, wherever she rested and was hospitably re-
ceived, traces of her blessing in the form of instruction in the
art of agriculture. But nowhere in Greece did her blessing
descend so richly as in the district of Attica; for there Keleos,
of Eleusis, a spot not far from Athens, had received her with
most cordial hospitality. In return for this she taught him the
use of the plough, and before departing presented to his son,
Triptolemos, whom she had nursed, the seed of the barley
along with her snake-drawn car, in order that he might tra-
verse all lands, teaching by the way mankind how to sow and to
utilize the grain, a task which Triptolemos performed faithfully,
and so extended the art of agriculture to most distant lands.
In Arcadia, Crete, and Samothrace we find her associated
with a mythical hero called Jasion, reputed to have been the
first sower of grain, to whom she bore a child, whose name of
Plutos shows him to be a personification of the wealth de-
rived from the cultivation of grain. In Thessaly there was a
legend of her hostility to a hero sometimes called Erysich-
ton, ' the earth upturncr ' or 'the ploughman,' and some-
DEMETER, OR CERES. 6^
times Aethon, a i)ersonifiration of famine. Again we find a
reference to her fiin< tion as goddess of agriculture in the story
that once, when Poseidon threatened with his su])erior strength
to mishandle her, Demeter took the form of a horse and fled
from him; hut the god, taking the same shape, j)ursued and
overtook her, the result being that she afterwards bore him
Arion, a wonderful black horse of incredible speed, and
gifted with intelligence and speech like a man. Pain and
shame at the birth of such a creature drove her to hide for a
long time in a rave, till at last she was purified by a bath in
the river Ladon, and again appeared among the other
deities. From the necessities of agriculture originated the
custom of living in settled communities. It was Demeter
who first inspired mankind with an interest in property and
the ownershij) of land, who created the feeling of patriotism
and the maintenance of law and order.
The next phase of her character was that which came into
prominence at harvest time, when the bare stubble fields re-
minded her worshijjjjers of the loss of her daughter Perse-
phone. At that time two kinds of festivals were held in her
honour, the one kind called Haloa or Thalysia, being ap-
parently mere harvest festivals, the other called Thesmo-
phoria. Of the latter, as conducted in the village of Hali-
mus in Attica, we know that it was held from the 9th to the
13th of October each year, that it could only be participated
in by married women, that at one stage of the proceedings
Demeter was hailed as the mother of the beautiful child, and
that this joy afterwards gave way to expressions of the deep-
est grief at her loss of her daughter. At night orgies were
held at which mysterious ceremonies were mixed with bois-
terous amusements of all sorts. Tlie Thesmoi or * institu-
68 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
tions ' from which she derived the title of Thesmophoros ap-
pear to have referred to married life.
We have no means of knowing to what extent the ancient
Greeks based their belief in a happy existence hereafter on
the mysterious evolution of life from the seed rotting in the
ground, which the early Christians adopted as an illustration
of the grand change to which they looked forward. But that
the myth of the carrying off of Persephone, her gloomy exist-
ence under the ground, and her cheerful return, originated in
the contemplation of this natural process, is clear from the
fact that at Eleusis Demeter and Persephone always retained
the character of seed goddesses, side by side with their more
conspicuous character as deities in whose story were reflected
the various scenes through which those mortals would have to
pass who were initiated into the Mysteries of Eleusis.
These mysteries had been instituted by Demeter herself, and
whatever rites they may have consisted in, we know from the
testimony of men like Pindar and Aeschylos, who had been
initiated, that they were w^ell calculated to awaken most pro-
found feelings of piety and a cheerful hope of better life in
future. It is believed that the ceremony of initiation con-
sisted, not in instruction as to what to believe or how to act
to be worthy of her favour, but in elaborate and prolonged
representations of the various scenes and acts on earth and
under it connected with the myth of the carrying off of Per-
sephone. The ceremony took place at night, and it is pro-
bable that advantage was taken of the darkness to make the
scenes in the lower world more hideous and impressive. Pro-
bably these representations were reserved for the Epoptae or
persons in the final stage of initiation. Those in the earlier
stages were called Mystae. Associated with Demeter and
DEMETER, OR CERES. 69
Persephone in the worsliip at Kleiisis was Dionysos in his
youthful character and under the name of Jacchos. But at
what time this first took place, whether it was due to some af-
finity in the orgiastic nature of his worship, or rather to his
local connection with Attica as god of the vine, is not known.
Two festivals of this kind, Eleusinia, were held annually,
— the lesser in spring, when the earliest flowers appeared, and
the greater in the month of September. The latter occupied
nine days, commencing on the night of the 20th with a torch-
light procession. Though similar festivals existed in various
parts of Greece and even of Italy, those of Eleusis in Attica
continued to retain something like national importance, and
from the immense concourse of people who came to take part
in them, were among the principal attractions of Athens. The
duties of high priest were vested in the family of Eumolpidae,
whose ancestor Eumolpos, according to one account, had
been installed in the office by Demeter herself. The festival
was brought to a close by games, among which was that of
bull-baiting.
In Italy a festival founded on the Eleusinian Mysteries and
conducted in the Greek manner was held in honour of
Bacchus and Ceres, or Liber and Libera as they were
called. It appears, however, to have never commanded the
same respect as the original. For we find Romans who had
visited Greece, and like Cicero been initiated at Eleusis, re-
turning with a strong desire to see the Eleusinian ceremonies
transplanted to Rome. Altogether it is probable that the
Roman Ceres was but a weak counterpart of the Greek
Demeter.
The attributes of Demeter, like those of Persephone, were
ears of corn and poppies ; on her head she wore a modius or
70 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
corn measure as a symbol of the fertility of the earth. Her
sacrifice consisted of cows and pigs.
Statues that can positively be assigned to Demeter are very rare, the best by
far being that found at Cnidus and now in the British Museum, which repre-
sents her seated, draped, and with a veil falling from the back of her head.
On her head is neither the modius nor the crown which she also wears some-
times. On the painted vases, however, figures of her are less rare. On a vase
in the British Museum she appears beside Triptolemos, who is seated in the
winged car which she gave him. On another vase, also in the natioifal collec-
tion, we find the scene at the institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries. In the
centre is Triptolemos seated in the car ; before him Persephone (here called
Pherophatta, a more ancient form of her name), and a figure called Eleusis;
behind him Demeter and Eumolpos ; on the other side of the vase are Zeus,
Dionysos, Poseidon, and Amphitrite. A marble relief, found at Eleusis, rep-
resents, it is believed, Demeter, Persephone, and the youthful Jacchos,
HECATE,
(plate VII.,)
Though, properly speaking, not one of the supreme order of
deities, is entitled to be placed here on account of a resem-
blance to Persephone in her mysterious functions both in the
upper and lower world. She is a goddess of Titanic origin,
daughter of Tartaros and Night, or of Perses and Aste-
ria (Starry-Night), the sister of Leto, according to other
accounts. The stories current among the ancients concern-
ing her vary greatly, and often confuse her with other deities,
especially those of the night, such as Selene or Luna, the
goddess of the moon, while standing to Persephone in the re-
lation of servant or companion. She belongs to the class of
torch-bearing deities, like Artemis, and was conceived as
carrying a burning torch, to suit the belief that she was the
nocturnal goddess of the moon, and a huntress who knew her
VII
Kuretes Keeping Guard over liii'aiit Zeus.
HESTIA, OR VESTA. 7 1
way also in the realm of spirits. All the secret powers of
Nature were at her command, it was thought. She had a
control over birth, life, and death, and enjoyed great honour
among the gods of Olympos as well as in the under-world.
To express her power in the three regions of nature, heaven,
earth, and the under-world, she was represented as of triple
form, and named Triformis. Dogs were sacred to her. Her
character being originally that of a mysterious deity, it hap-
pened that more prominence was always given in the concep-
tion of her to her gloomy and appalling features, her chief
function being held to be that of goddess of the nether world,
of night and darkness, mistress of all the witchcraft and black
arts which were believed in as much in antiquity as in the
middle ages. Accordingly her festivals were held at night,
worship was paid her by torchlight, and sacrifices of black
lambs presented with many strange ceremonies. Her presence
was mostly felt at lonely cross-roads, whence she derived the
name of Trivia.
A mysterious festival was held in her honour every year in
the island of ^gina, in the Saronic Gulf. Beside the lake of
Avemus, in lower Italy, was a dark grove sacred to her.
HESTIA, OR VESTA,
(plate VI.,)
Sister of Demeter, and daughter of Kronos and Rhea, was
worshipped both by Greeks and Rom.ans as the goddess of the
home-fire, or hearth, the name of which was identical with her
own. She was properly, therefore, the guardian of family
life ; her altars were everywhere, the hearth of every house
being her sanctuary, and when the family gathered round it
72 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
daily it was with feelings of regard for that goddess. Every
meal prepared on the fire at home revived a grateful sense of
the common enjoyments of family life. In every building of
public resort she had a sanctuary in the shape of a fire ; and
when in Greece a body of colonists were about to emigrate to
new and distant homes, one of their chief considerations was to
take with them some portion of fire sacred to Hestia, in order
to carry with them the favour of the goddess ; for the Greeks
looked upon the state as a great family, with an altar of Hestia
as its central point : and thus, by taking with them to their new
homes a portion of the fire from that altar, or state hearth, the
colony retained its interest and participation in the public
affairs of their parent state. No enterprise was commenced
without sacrifice and prayer at her altar ; and when the fire of
one of those holy places chanced to be extinguished, it could
only be rekindled by a light from some other sanctuary, not
by ordinary and impure fire.
As the goddess of a pure element, Hestia despised love,
and, though pressed to consent both by Poseidon and
Apollo, obtained from Zeus the privilege she prayed for, of
remaining in a single state. Her spotless purity fitted her
peculiarly to be the guardian of virgin modesty.
Though zealously worshipped throughout Greece, there was
no temple specially devoted to her. Her proper sanctuary was,
as we have said, by the fire of every house where people gathered
together. She had a share in all the sacrifices offered at the
temples of other gods, and at every burnt-offering her presence
was recognised as goddess of the sacred hearth and altar flame,
as it was also in the libations of water, wine, and oil, and in
the prayers addressed to her. At the same time she had her
own peculiar sacrifices, consisting of young shoots of grain,
HESTIA, OR VESTA. 73
the first-fruits of the harvest, an<l young cows. Her priestesses
had to remain virgins.
In Rome, however, there was a temple to Vesta that had
been built by Numa Pompilius. It was of a round shape,
and contained in its centre her symbol of an altar, with a fire
that was never allowed to go out. This temple, which stood
open by day but was closed by night, contained, besides other
very old figures of deities, the Palladium, a small wooden
image of Minerva (Pallas-Athene), which, according to the
myth, originally fell from heaven upon the citadel of Troy,
and was carried thence to Greece, and afterwards to Rome.
Upon the preservation of this figure depended, the people
believed, the safety and existence of the Roman empire. Her
priestesses, six in number, were called vestal virgins, their
duty being to feed the sacred flame of her temple, and to
present sacrifices and prayers for the welfare of the state. To
this office they were chosen by the high-priest, who was styled
Pontifex maximus. They wore robes of white, with a fillet
round the hair, and a veil, additional ornaments being per-
mitted in later times. It was necessary that the girls selected
for this service should be between six and ten years of age,
and that they should take a vow of chastity, and serve in the
temple for thirty years. After that ])eriod they were per-
mitted to leave it, and even to marry, though neither proceed-
ing was viewed with pleasure by the public, who feared the
goddess to whom they had been devoted might take offence
in either case. While engaged in the services of the temple
the vestal virgins enjoyed great esteem and important privi-
leges. Their person was inviolable, they were free from
paternal control, and had the right of disposing of their own
property. In their festal processions through the streets of
74 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Rome they were preceded by lictors (or officers of justice),
who carried with them the fasces^ that is, a number of twigs
tied together into a bundle, out of which an axe projected as
a symbol of sovereign power, — ^an honour which, besides them,
only the consuls or highest magistrates of Rome were entitled
to. And in the course of the procession, should they meet a
criminal on his way to expiate his crime by death, they had
the prerogative of ordering him to be set free.
With all this respect and esteem, they were very severely
dealt with when guilty of neglect of duty, such as permitting
the sacred flame of the altar of Vesta to die out, which
could only be rekindled by means of a burning glass held
up to the rays of the sun. A priestess guilty of this was
condemned by the high-priest of the goddess to a dark
chamber, and there flogged. For the crime of forfeiting her
chastity she was conveyed to a place called the Campus
Sceleratus, or '' criminals' field," and there placed in a sub-
terranean chamber provided with a bed, a lighted lamp, and
some bread and water. The chamber was then closed upon
her, the earth thrown over it and made smooth, and the
unfortunate priestess left to die a most agonizing death. Her
seducer was publicly scourged to death. The whole city was
sorrowful, and sacrifice and long earnest prayers were offered
up to appease the injured goddess. The procession, in which
the condemned priestess was carried to her crypt, tied down
on a litter, and so closely covered up that even her screams
could not be heard, was a spectacle that raised a shudder, and
caused that day to be remembered as one of the greatest pain
and grief throughout the city.
At first there were only two vestal virgins, this number
being afterwards increased to four, and again by King Servius
ARES, OR MARS. 75
to six. They were chosen always from the noblest families
of Rome. If the legend concerning the foundation of the
city of Rome be true, even Romulus and Remus, the
founders of that city, were sons of a vestal priestess named
Rhea Sylvia and Mars.
The sacred fire on the hearth of the goddess, and the laurel
that shaded it, were renewed on the ist of March of each
year; on the 15th of June her temple was cleaned and re-
paired. But previous to this, on the 9th of June, a festival
was held in her honour, called the Vestalia, only women
being admitted to the temple, and these barefooted, and in the
character of pilgrims.
ARES, OR MARS,
(plates VIII. AND XXVIII.,)
A son of Zeus and Hera, according to the belief of the
Greeks, was originally god of the storm and tempest, and
more particularly of the hurricane ; but this his natural mean-
ing was lost sight of at an earlier period, and more completely
than in the case of most of the other gods, the character in
which he appears to us being exclusively that of '' god of the
turmoil and storms in human affairs," in other words, " god
of dreadful war," or more correctly, " of the wild confusion
and strife of battle." Of all the upper gods he was the most
fierce and terrible, taking pleasure in slaughter and massacre.
In this respect he forms a striking contrast to Pallas-
Athene, the goddess of well-matched chivalrous fights, whom
we often find opi)osed to him in mythical narratives. When
fighting she was invulnerable, and always on the side of the
victor; while Ares being not only god of battle but also a per-
76 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
sonification of war, with its double issue of victory and defeat,
was sometimes wounded, and even taken prisoner. When
assisting the Trojans in their war with the Greeks, in the
course of which he took under his special protection their
leader, Hector, he was wounded by the Greek hero Diome-
des, aided by the goddess Athene. He fell — so Homer
describes the event in the Iliad (v. 853) — ^with a thundering
crash to the ground, like the noise of nine or ten thousand
warriors engaged in battle. Again (Iliad xxi. 400) he was
wounded by Athene and fell, his armour clanking, and his
body covering with his fall seven acres of ground, — an ob-
vious reference to the roar and destruction attending a
great storm. He was once captured by Otos and Ephialtes,
the giant sons of Aloeus the planter, and kept imprisoned
in a great bronze vase (Iliad v. 385) for thirteen months — a
space of time which, when we remember that the names of
the two heroes are derived from husbandry, seems to indicate
a full year of peaceful agriculture. Like himself, his offspring
were distinguished for their prowess or delight in strife ; as,
for example, Meleager, the prince of Kalydon, who speared
the Kalydonian boar (see below) ; Kyknos, whom Herakles
slew, and for this would have been avenged by Ares had not
Zeus stopped the conflict of his two powerful sons by a flash of
lightning; then ParthenSpaeos, one of the seven leaders in
the assault on the town of Thebes (see below) ; Oenomseos,
and others. The expression, '^ a son or offshoot of Ares,"
frequently applied to other heroes, must not be understood
literally, but merely as indicating physical strength and valour,
equal to that of his actual descendants.
Eris, the personification of fatal strife, was usually by his
side, Dread and Alarm (Deimos and Phobos) attended on his
ARES, OR MARS. 77
Steps. On the otlicr hand wc find him, even in the Iliad {y.
355 and xxi. 416), where his general character is that of a
huge fierce combatant, associated with Aphrodite, the goddess
of love. In the Odyssey (viii. 266) the story is told of his
secret visit to her, when he was detected by Helios, who in-
formed Hepha:stos of the fact, whereupon the latter devised a
cunning net, and catching the two together under it exhibited
them to the gods of Olympos, and called upon Zeus to bring
them to trial. This relation of Ares to Aphrodite, who was
even worshipped as his proper wife in Thebes, indicates very
probably the peace and rest that follow the turmoil of war.
It is true that Ares was worshipped in Greece, but not as a
great protecting deity, such as he was deemed by the Romans.
In Athens the Areopagos, or ''Mars' Hill," on which was
held a court of justice for the decision of cases involving life
and death, derived its name from him, the story being that he
had once appeared before it in a cause against Poseidon. The
warlike people of Tegea, the Spartans, who had a very ancient
temple in his honour, the Athenians, for whom Alkamenes the
sculptor, a contemporary and rival of Pheidias, made a statue
of him, and the Eleans, all worshipped him with more or less
zeal. But the real home and centre of his worship was Thrace,
with its wild warlike population and its stormy tempestuous
sky. It was in Rome, however, with its conquests and pride
of military power, that he enjoyed under the name of Mars
the highest honour, ranking next to Jupiter as guardian of
the state. The Romans considered themselves to be actual
descendants of Mars, on the ground of his having been, as
was believed, the father of Romulus and Remus, styling him
Marspiter, that is, INIars Pater, their fother Mars. At Reate,
in Italy, he had even an oracle. In Rome there was a field
78 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
consecrated to him, and named the ''Field of Mars/' where
military exercises and manoeuvres took place, athletic compe-
titions, called "martial games," were held, and public assem-
blies were summoned to consider important questions of the
state. The race course and the temples of the god were there ;
and there every four years were held the census and muster of
citizens liable to be called into the field in the event of war.
On this occasion a sacrifice was presented to him, consisting
of a bull, a ram, and a goat, which, before being slain, were
led three times round the assembled crowd, while during the
ceremony a prayer was offered up that the immortal gods
might still enlarge and ennoble the Roman empire more and
more, or as it was expressed in later times, that they might
give stability and endurance to the Roman state. Chariot -
races were held there twice a year, at the beginning of March
and in October ; the ceremony of sacrificing to Mars the oif-
horse of the biga that won the race — the October horse as it
was called — being performed at the latter. In the " Field of
Mars ' ' was dedicated the booty brought back from campaigns,
and no Roman general went to war without first proceeding
to the temple of Mars, to swing the sacred shield and spear,
adding the words, ''Watch over us, O Mars!" This shield
(ancile) was believed to have fallen from heaven at the time
when Numa Pompilius was king of Rome, and, like the Palla-
dium in the temple of Vesta, was looked on with veneration.
Both it and a sacred spear were preserved in the temple of
Mars, under the custody of priests, who were called Salii, and
whose duty it was every year to celebrate a festival of thanks-
giving for this important present from the gods. In the ear-
liest times the sacrifices offered to Mars consisted of human
beings, particularly those who had been taken prisoners in
OB
A
ij'iyi
ffOB£/!rssc " ^Ln-
Hephsestos, or Vulcan
Ares, or Mars. Aphrodite, or Venus.
HEPHAESTOS, OR VULCAN. 79
battle ; but in later times this custom was abandoned, and
horses, rams, dogs, and a portion of the booty captured from
enemies, offered instead. Besides these animals, the wolf,
cock, and woodpecker were sacred to him.
The attributes of Ares were a spear and a burning torch,
such as, according to ancient custom, his priests carried when
they advanced to give the sign of battle to opposing armies.
The animals chosen as his symbols were the dog and the
vulture, the constant visitants of battle-fields.
In works of art Ares is represented generally as of a youthful but very pow-
erful build, armed with helmet, shield, and spear. At other times he is bearded
and heavily armed, A favourite subject was his meeting with Aphrodite, as
on plate xxviii.
HEPHAESTOS, or VULCAN,
(plate viil,)
Was the divine personification of the fire that bums within the
earth and bursts forth in volcanic eruptions — fire which has
no connection with the sun or the lightning of heaven ; and
such being his cliaracter, we can readily understand the
mutual dislike which existed between him and the god of the
light of heaven. He was indeed the son of Zeus and Hera,
the supreme deities of heaven ; but he was born to be a cause
of quarrel between them, and alternately at enmity with both.
Once, when he took his mother's part, Zeus seized him by the
heels and tossed him out of Olympos (Iliad i. 560). Through
the air he fell for one whole day; at evening, as the sun went
down, reaching the island of Lemnos, where he was found by
some Sintian people, and taken under friendly care. The
place where he was found, and where in after times was the
8o DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
principal centre of his worship, was the neighbourhood of the
burning mountain Mosychlos.
Another version of the myth has it that Hera, ashamed of
the decrepit form which he presented at his birth, threw him
with her own hands from Olympos. Falling into the sea, he
was picked up by Thetis and Eurynome, was cared for by
them, remained for nine years in the abode of the sea-gods,
none but they knowing his whereabouts, and executed there
many wonderfully clever examples of handiwork. It may be
that this belief originated in observing the nearness of volcanic
mountains to the sea-shore, and the fact of whole islands, like
the modern Santorin, being suddenly thrown up from the sea
by volcanic force. Among the works which he fashioned in
the palace of the sea-gods was a cunningly devised throne,
which he presented to Hera, as a punishment for casting him
out of heaven, knowing that when she sat down on it she
would be locked within its secret chains so firmly that no
power but his could free her. This happened, and Ares went
to bring him by force to her assistance, but was compelled to
retreat in fear of the fire brand with which Hephaestos assailed
him. At last Dionysos, the god of wine, succeeded by his
soft conciliatory speech in restoring friendship between mother
and son, and her bonds were forthwith undone. Perhaps it
is from this intimacy with Dionysos that he is said to have
once appeared as cup-bearer in Olympos, on which occasion
the assembled deities could not contain themselves with
laughter at the droll figure limping from couch to couch. It
seems to be the unsteady flicker of flame that is represented
in the lameness of the fire-god, and it may have been the
genial influence of the hearth which was the source of the
quaint stories about him.
HEPHAESTOS, OR VULCAN. 8l
From being originally god of fire, Hci)hacstos naturally de-
veloped into god of those arts and industries dependent on
fire, especially the arts of pottery and working in metal. He
was the artist god who worked in a smoky smithy down in the
heart of burning mountains, and produced clever works of
dazzling beauty, which he gave freely away to gods and to
favourite heroes. For Zeus he made the dreaded segis and a
sceptre; for Achilles and Memnon their armour; for him-
self two wonderful handmaidens of gold, who, like living
beings, would move about and assist him as he walked ; and
when Homer has to describe any bronze work of great beauty,
his highest praise is always that it was the work of Hephaestos.
The throne which he made for Hera, and the net in which he
caught Aphrodite and Ares, have already been mentioned.
From being god of the warmth within the earth — of vol-
canic fire, Hephaestos came also, when the fertility of a vol-
canic soil became known by experience, to be looked on as
one who aided the spread of vegetation, this function of his
being recognized most in the spread of the vine, which thrives
and bears its best fruit on volcanic soil. It was from know-
ledge of this fact, no doubt, that the idea arose of the close
friendship between him and the wine-god Dionysos, which
we find exemplified partly in the joint worship of these two
deities, and partly in the story already told, of how Dionysos
led Hephaestos back to Olympos, and smoothed his differ-
ences with the other gods.
His worship was traceable back to the earliest times,
Lemnos being always the place most sacred to him. There,
at the foot of the burning mountain Mosychlos, which is now
extinct, stood a very ancient temple of the god — on the very
spot, it was said, v/here Prometheus stole the heavenly fire,
82 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
and for the theft was taken away among the Caucasus moun-
tains, there nailed alive to a rock by Hephaestos, and com-
pelled to suffer every day an eagle sent by Zeus to gnaw his
liver, which daily grew afresh. A somewhat gloomy cere-
mony of expiating this theft of fire took place annually in the
island, all fires being put out, and forbidden to be relit until
the return of the ship that had been despatched to the sacred
island of Delos to fetch new fire. Then, after being nine
days extinguished, all the fires in dwelling-houses and in
work-shops were rekindled by the new flame.
Next to Lemnos, perhaps the most important seat of his
worship was Athens, where the unusually large number of
persons employed in the potteries and in metal-working recog-
nized him as their patron god, and associating him with
Athene, held annually in October a festival called Chalkeia,
in honour of both. In the same month occurred the festival
Apaturia, at which, by the side of Zeus and Athene a pro-
minent place was assigned to Hephaestos in his capacity of
god of the hearth, and protector of the domestic life which
gathered round it. On this occasion sacrifices were offered
at the hearth, and a public procession took place of men clad
in festival garments, carrying lighted torches and singing
songs in his praise. Again, the torch race, which formed part
of the Panathenaic games, was intended to commemorate the
theft of fire by Prometheus. In connection with this com-
munity of worship) existing between Athene and Hephaestos
at Athens, it was said that he once endeavoured to obtain the
love of tlie goddess, and that even though this failed she had
devoted special care to Erichthonios, the offspring of his in-
tercourse with Gaea, the goddess of the earth.
In Sicily Hephaestos had a temple on Mount Etna, which
HEPHAEST03, OR VULCAN. 83
was watched by dogs possessed of the faculty of distinguishing
the pious from the impious and profane, whose approach they
fiercely resisted. His worship had also spread to lower Italy
and the Campania.
In Rome it was said that Vulcan had a temple as early as
the time of Romulus, who, in fact, caused it to be erected,
and instituted the festival called Vulcanalia, which was wont
to be held on the 23d of August, the ceremony consisting of
a sacrifice for the purpose of averting all the mishaps tliat
arise from the use of fire and lights ; for the days were then
beginning to be noticeably shorter, and the necessity of light
to work by in the evenings to be felt.
The wife of Hephaestos, according to the Iliad, was
Charis, but the popular belief of later times assigned that
place to Aphrodite. By neither had he any children.
In works of art Hephaestos is represented as an aged bearded man, with
serious furrowed face, wearing a short chiton or exomis and a pointed cap or
jiilos, the mark of workmen or fishermen (which Odysseus also wears), ham-
mering at an anvil, his attitude showing the lameness of which the myth
speaks. On the early coins of Lemnos he appears without a beard. One of
the favourite subjects both of poets and artists was the story of his catchmg
Hera in tlie throne which he gave her, the ludicrousness of it making it an
attractive subject for the ancient comedy. On a painted vase in the British
Museum is a scene from a comedy in which Hera appears seated on the
throne, while Ares and Hephaestos are engaged in combat before her. Another
scene which frequently occurs on the painted vases is that in which Hephaestos
appears on his way back to Olympos in a state of intoxication, riding on a
mule, or walking, and accompanied by Dionysos, Sileni, and njonphs. At the
birth of Athene it was he who split open the head of Zeus to let the goddess
come forth, and in the frequent representations of this scene on the vases he
appears hammer in hand. At other times we find him fashioning the armour
of Achilles or fastening Prometheus to the rock.
84 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
APHRODITE, OR VENUS,
(plates VIII., IX., AND XXVIII.,)
Was the goddess of love in that wide sense of the word which
in early times embraced also the love of animals, and the love
which was thought to be the cause of productiveness through-
out nature. Accordingly we find in her character, side by
side with what is beautiful and noble, much that is coarse and
unworthy. In the best times of Greece the refined and
beautiful features of her worship were kept in prominence,
both in poetry and art ; but these, when times of luxury suc-
ceeded, had to give way to impurities of many kinds.
The feelings awakened by observing the productive power
of nature had, it would seem, given rise to a divine personifi-
cation of love in very remote early times among the nations
of the East. The Phoenicians called this personification As-
tart e, and carried her worship with them wherever they es-
tablished factories or markets in Greece, in the islands of the
Mediterranean, and on to Italy. The early Greeks coming
in contact with these traders, and obtaining from them a
knowledge of coinage, weights, measures, and other necessa-
ries of commerce and trade — including, it is said, a system
of writing — appear to have transferred some of the functions
of the oriental goddess to their own Aphrodite, as, for in-
stance, the function of protecting commerce. The earliest
known Greek coins — those of ^gina — the weights of which
correspond accurately with the oriental standard, have the
figure of a tortoise, the well-known symbol of Aphrodite.
How much else of the character of their goddess the Greeks
may have derived from the Phoenicians it would be impossi-
APHRODITE, OR VENUS. 85
ble to say. But the extraordinary zeal with \vhi( h she con-
tinued to be worshipped in Cyprus, Cytherea, Corinth, Car-
thage, Sicily, and wherever in early times the Phcenicians had
made settlements, may signify that others of her functions
besides that of protecting commerce had been borrowed from
the oriental goddess. The older Aphrodite worshipped in
Greece previous to the introduction of Phoenician elements in
her character is described as a daughter of Zeus (Iliad v.
312) and Dione, and through her mother was associated with
the ancient worship at Dodona.
The younger goddess, on the other hand, is described
(Hesiod, Theogony, 188-206) as the offspring of Uranos,
born among the foam of the sea, first stepping on land in
Cyprus, and styled Anadyomene, or "she who came out of
the sea." Under the title of Urania she was regarded as a
personification of that power of love which was thought to
unite heaven, earth, and sea into one harmonious system, and
as such was distinguished from Aphrodite Pandemos, the
personification of love among men. As the goddess born of
the foam of the sea, she naturally came to be held in venera-
tion by the fishermen and sailors on the coast as the goddess
of the smiling sea, and the cause of prosperous voyages.
Hence it was the custom in the island of -^gina to follow up
the sacrifice and banquet in honour of Poseidon with a festival
of great rejoicing and excitement in honour of Aphrodite.
In Knidos she was styled and worshipped as goddess of the
peaceful sea ; a character which is symbolized by the dolphin
frequently given her as an attribute. The island of Cytherea
(Cerigo) derived its name from one of her titles, Cythere,
the belief being that she had appeared there before landing
on Cyprus.
S6 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The earlier and pure Greek phase of her character, in which
she is called a daughter of Zeus and Dione, was that of a
goddess who presides over human love ; she is described as
accompanied by her son Eros (Amor or Cupid), the Cha-
rites (Graces), the Horae, Himeros (God of the desire of
love), Pothos (God of the anxieties of love), and Peitho
(Suadela, or the soft speech of love). But her special favour-
ite was the young rosy shepherd Adonis ; her grief at his
death, which was caused by a wild boar, being so great that
she would not allow the lifeless body to be taken from her
arms until the gods consoled her by decreeing that her lover
might continue to live half the year, during the spring and
summer, on the earth, while she might spend the other half
with him in the lov/er world, beside Persephone (Proser-
pina) ; a reference to the change of seasons, which finds its
explanation in the fact of Aphrodite being also goddess of gar-
dens and flowers. Her presence in nature was felt in spring,
her absence in winter. This change of the seasons was further
observed and celebrated by a festival in honour of Adonis, in
the course of which a figure of him was produced, and the
ceremony of burial, with weeping and songs of wailing, gone
through; after which a joyful shout was raised, " Adonis lives,
and is risen again ! ' ' She was called Adonaia and Adonias ,
with reference to this love passage. Next to him her chief
favourite was Anchises, to whom she bore /Eneas, who
through his son Ascanius, or Julius, became, as story goes,
the founder of the great Julian family in Rome. With regard
to the story of Pygmalion, the Adonis of Cyprus, into
whose statue of her she breathed life on the occasion of one
of her festivals, perhaps the same meaning is intended to be
conveyed as in the alternate life and death of Adonis — that is.
APHRODITE, OR VENUS. 87
the alternate fervour and coldness of love, or the alternate
bloom and frost of nature.
The husband of Aphrodite was Ilci>haestos (Vulcan), whose
manner of punishing her when he found her in the com})any
of Ares has already been related. Among her children, but
not by Hephaestos, were Eros (Amor), and Anteros,
Hymen, and Hermaphroditus.
But if she had favours for some she had strong antipathies
for others, and proved this spirit on Hippolytos, whom she
slew; on Polyphonte, whom she changed into an owl; on
Arsinoe whom she turned to stone; and Myrrha, whom she
transformed into a myrtle tree. Of her strife and competi-
tion with Hera and Athene for the prize of beauty, which the
Trojan prince, Paris, awarded to her, we shall give an account
later on, in connection with the narrative of the Trojan war.
As a result of her power to unite by means of love all
beings, whether in heaven, or earth, or in blackest Tartaros,
she came to be viewed as a goddess presiding over married
life and marriage ceremonies. She had a number of temples
in the island of Cyprus, but none of them so splendidly deco-
rated as that in the town of Paphos, whither thousands of
visitors streamed to take part in the annual festival and
rejoicings in her honour. There also she had an oracle, and,
as Urania, was worshipped jointly with Ares (Mars); the
latter fact showing that her connection with this god was
founded in the religious belief of the people. At times, and
particularly in her very ancient sanctuary in the island of
Cythere, as also in Sparta, Argos, and on the Acropolis
of Corinth, she was represented armed.
The worship of Venus did not become general in Rome
till later times. A festival, called Veneralia, was held in
88 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
her honour every year, a great part of the ceremony consisting
of nocturna]' dances and passionate enjoyment in gardens and
among blooming arbours. She had a temple on the Capitol,
and one of the Colline gates was consecrated to her. The
month of April was held sacred to her, for then the flowers
bud and plants shoot; or, as the Greek myth expresses it,
Adonis comes back from the under-world.
The symbols of Aphrodite were the dove, ram, hare,
dolphin, swan, and tortoise, with the rose as a flower, the
myrtle tree, and other beautiful plants, the apple, and fruits
of various kinds.
In Paphos the earliest form or image under which she was worshipped was
that of a ball or a pyramid, surrounded with burning torches or candelabra, as
is to be seen on the coins of Cyprus ; but gradually, as art advanced, she took
a finer form, fresh charms being continually added, till all the resources of
expressing imperious overpowering beauty were exhausted. In the best days
of art she was always represented draped, in later times nude, and in various
attitudes. The scene of her birth from the sea was represented by Pheidias,
on the base of the statue of Zeus at Olympia, as taking place in presence of
the gods of Olympos, she being received first by Eros, who elsewhere is called
her son. One of the most famous pictures of Apelles represented her as rising
out of the sea. To indicate her connection with Ares she was represented as
Venus Victrix, standing with one foot on a helmet and with both arms raising
a shield. Of this type are the Venus of Capua and the Venus of Milo. In a
temple erected to her as Euploia or goddess of prosperous voyages, in Knidos,
was a statue of her by Praxiteles, which was celebrated above all her other
statues in ancient times; and of which the so-called Medicean Venus is
believed to be a free copy.
PALLAS-ATHENE, or MINERVA,
(plates XI. AND XII.,)
Called also Tritogeneia or Tritonia and Athenaea, is
usually described, in the myths concerning her birth, as having
XI
Pallas-Athene, or Minerva.
Apollo.
Helios, or Sol.
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 89
sprung into life, fully armed, from the head of Zeus, with its
thick black locks, all heaven and e4rth shaking meanwhile, the
sea tossing in great billows, and the light of day being extin-
guished. Zeus, it was said, had previously swallowed his wife
Metis (Intelligence), to prevent her giving birth to a son. The
operation of laying his head open, that Pallas might come forth,
was performed by Hephsestos (Vulcan), or, according to
other versions of the story, Prometheus. There is, however,
another myth, which ascribes her origin to a connection of
Poseidon (Neptune) with the nymph Tritonis, adding that
Zeus merely adopted her as his daughter. But this seems to
have had no foundation in the general belief of the people,
and to have been only an invention of later times, when her
name, Tritogeneia, or Tritonia, had become unintelligible.
No being connected with the earth, whether deity or mortal,
had a part in her birth. She was altogether the issue only of
her father, the god of heaven, who, as the myth very plainly
characterizes it, brought her into being out of the black tem-
pest-cloud, and amidst the roar and crash of a storm. Her
character must therefore be regarded as forming in some way
a complement to his. The purpose for which she was brought
into existence must have been that she might do what he would
plan, but as the supreme and impartial god, could not carry
out. She is at once fearful and powerful as a storm, and in
turn, gentle and pure as the warmth of the sky when a storm
has sunk to rest and an air of new life moves over the fresh-
ened fields.
To express both these sides of her character — terrible and
mighty as compared with open, gentle, and pure — she had the
double name of Pallas-Athene : the former was applied to
her function of goddess of storms — she who carried the aegis
f)0 DEITIES OV THE IfKniEST ORDER.
or storru-sliicld of lier Ailhcr. And further, as i'alhis, she
became llie goddess of ];aUle — valiant, conquering, frigliten-
ing with the siglit of her xgis whole crowds of heroes when
they vexed her, and even driving Ares before her with lier
lightning spear. At tlie same time the soft, gentle, and
heavenly side of lier character took from her functions, as
goddess of battle, that desire of c:on fused slaughter and mas-
sacre wliic 1) distinguished Ares, and frjrinc*! the c;oiitrast we
liavc already mentioned between the two deities of war. Pal-
las presides over battles, but only to lead on to victory, and
through victory, to j>eace and ])ros);( rily.
When the war has been fought out, and that peace estab-
lished which — whether it Ije amid the j)olitical life of nations
here on enrth, or whether it bentnid the jjassions of individual
men — is always the result of conflict and war, then it is that
the goddess Athene reigns in all gentleness and purity, teach-
ing mankind to enjoy i)eace, and instructing them in all that
gives beauty lo human life, in wisdom and art. If we observe
and keepc;learly before our minds these two sides of her char-
acter, the inseparable union of both, and their arlion and re-
action ui)(;n ea< h (;ther, we shall see that this godfless, Pallas-
Athene, is one (;f the most profound conceptic^ns of a deej)
religi(;us feeling — a being into whose hands the j>ioi]s (iieek
could, with due reverence, commit his keeping.
The mutual relation of these two sides of her < haracter is
sufficiently obvious in the various myths relating to the god-
dess. The princi])al of these we shall ])roceed to narrate.
])\\\, first, we must ( all attention to this point, that Athene is
rejiresented in the myths as for ever remaining a virgin, s( orn-
ing the affectir;ns which are said to have been frequently
offered to her. Instead of suggesting her liability, in the
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 9 1
siiKillcsl (K'L^ivc, to cartlil}' j);issions and foihlos, the myth
sliows aihnirably that slic was a divine pcrsonifKation of mind,
always unfettered in its movements; a personification, at tlie
same time, of the origin of mind from the brain of the su-
preme Divine Being: a proof tliat mind is neitlier of a male
nor of a female order, but a single and independent power at
work throughout the whole of nature.
In the course of the war with the Giants Pallas rendered
most valuable assistance to Zeus, both by advice and deed ;
being, in fact, the cause of his calling in the aid of Hera-
kles, and thus completing successfully the subjugation of the
rebels. Single-handed she overi)owcred the terrible giant
Enkelados ; but when Zeus' rule was at List firmly estab-
lished, she took up the tiisk of assisting and protecting those
heroes on earth wl.om she found engaged in destroying the
grim creatures and monsters ui)on it. In this capacity she
was the constant friend of Herakles in all his hardships and
adventures (see below), and of Perseus, whom she helped
to slay the Gorgon Medusa, whose head she afterwards wore
upon her iX^gis, and for this re;ison obtained the name of Gor-
gophone, or Gorgon slayer. Along with Hera she protected
the Argonauts, while to her assistance was due the success
with winch Theseus (see below) overcame and slew monsters
of all kinds. She stood by the Greeks in their war against
Troy, which we shall describe afterwards, and devised the
scheme by whicli, after ten years' duration, it w:ls brought to
a close.
But, in times of peace, her power as goddess in all kinds
of skill and handicraft, of clearness like that of the sky, and
of mental a( tivity, w;is uniformly exercised, as ha^ been said,
for the general good and prosperity. The arts of spinning
92 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
and weaving were described as of her invention. She taught
how to tend and nurse newly-born infants ; and even the heal-
ing art was traced back to her among other gods. The flute,
too, was her invention. As became the goddess of war, it
was her duty to instruct men in the art of taming horses, of
bridling and yoking them to the war-chariot — a task which we
find her performing in the story of Bellerophon, for whom
she bridled the winged horse Pegasosj and in the story of
Erichthonios, at Athens, the first mortal who learned from
her how to harness horses to chariots. In a word, she was the
protectress of all persons employed in art and industry, of
those whose business it was on earth to instruct and educate
mankind, and therefore to help forward the general happiness.
The principal scene of her influence and actions was Attica,
that district of Greece which, according to the myth related
above, she obtained as her special and peculiar province, after
a contest for it with Poseidon, the god of the sea. There
her worship and honour surpassed that of all other deities, and
from her was named the chief town of the land. The visible
proof and testimony of her guardianship of Attica was the
olive on the Acropolis of Athens, which she created in the
contest with Poseidon, and from which the Athenians be-
lieved all the olive trees of Attica to have spread. In the
produce of the olives consisted the chief wealth of the land.
Ancient writers relate a touching story concerning this olive
tree on the Acropolis, which reveals how firmly the belief of
their goddess was rooted in the minds of her people. When
the Persians advanced with their overwhelming forces against
Greece, it is said that Athene presented herself at the throne
of her father, and begged for the preservation of her city. But
fate had otherwise decreed : Athens must perish, in order that
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 93
a better and nobler city might rise from its ruins, and accor-
dingly Zeus was obliged to refuse the prayer of his beloved
daughter. The Athenians took to their fleet, abandoning al-
together the city, which the Persians then entered, and de-
stroyed utterly with fire and sword, not even sparing the sacred
olive of the goddess. But, lo ! as a sign that she had not for-
saken her city even in ruins, there sprang suddenly from
the root which remained a new shoot, which, with wonderful
quickness, grew to a length of three yards, and was looked on
as an emblem of the regeneration of the city. With the aid
of their goddess the Athenians fought foremost of all the Greeks
in the famous sea-fight that ensued at Salamis, in which the
Persian fleet, though vastly superior in numbers, was wholly
destroyed, while the troops on the mainland were compelled
to escape with shame and immense losses from Greece.
Among the great variety of her titles, some derived from
her functions as a goddess, and others from the localities where
her worship had a special hold on the people, we find Athene
at Elis styled ** mother," in consequence of her care over the
nursing of children ; in Athens and several other places,
Polias, the *' protectress of cities" ; Soteira, the " saviour" ;
Glaukopis, "blue-eyed goddess"; Parthenos, " the vir-
gin " ; Hippia, '' tamer of horses " ; Ergane, ''mistress of
industry", Nike, the ''victorious"; and Mechanitis,
** ingenious." Every year a festival lasting several days, and
called Panathenaea, was held in her honour at Athens, to
commemorate the part she had taken in the war against the
Giants : every fourth year — that is, every third year of the
current Olympiad — it was celebrated with redoubled splen-
dour. This festival is said to have been instituted by Theseus,
or at least to have first derived its importance from him ; in
94 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
any case it was a festival of very great antiquity. Festal pro-
cessions were formed, athletic games were held, while sacrifices
and banquets took place on a large scale — all the Athenians,
whether at home or abroad in colonies, having the privilege
of taking part. The prizes in the games consisted of large
painted earthenware vases filled with pure olive oil, the pro-
duct of the tree sacred to Athene.- Of these vases a small
number have been preserved down to our times. On one side
is painted a figure of the goddess striding forward in the atti-
tude of hurling her spear, with a column on each side of her,
to indicate the race course. On the reverse side is a view of
the contest in which a particular vase was won. But perhaps
the chief attraction of the festival was the procession in which
a new robe or peplos, woven and embroidered for the goddess
by a select number of women and girls in Athens, was carried
through the town spread like a sail on a mast, placed on a
wagon in the form of a ship. In this procession it appears
as if the whole population of Attica took part, the youth of
the nobility on horseback or in chariots, the soldiery in arms,
and the burgesses with their wives and daughters in holiday
attire. The new robe was destined for the very ancient statue
of Athene which was preserved in the Erechtheum. This
custom of placing actual drapery on statues appears to have
been handed down from remote times, when the art of sculp-
ture was unequal to the task of imitating the human figure,
and it is not improbable that the statue of Athene, of which
we are speaking, dated from that early time. The magistrates
of Athens offered sacrifices to her at the commencement of
spring. The services of her sanctuary were conducted by two
virgins elected for the period of one year.
In Rome the worship of Minerva was conducted with as
\
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 05
much zeal as that of Athene at Athens, her character as god-
dess of wisdom and serious thought being admirably calculated
to attract a people like the Romans. She was the protectress
of their arts and industries, of the domestic operations of
spinning and weaving and embroidering, just as she was among
the Greeks. In Rome she had several temples, one of the
oldest of them being that on the Capitol. A festival which
lasted from March 19th to 23d was annually held in her
honour. But the object connected with her, which the Romans
venerated above all things else, was the Palladium, or an-
cient figure of the goddess, the story of which was that it had
originally fallen from heaven, and had thereupon become the
property of the royal family of Troy, the possession of it being
from that time always considered an assurance of the safety of
that city. But in the course of the war between the Greeks
and Trojans it was secretly carried off by Diomedes and
Odysseus, upon which followed the capture of the town by
means of the wooden horse. Another version of the story
has it that -ffineas took it with him when he fled from the
city; and in consequence.of this inconsistency in the story it-
happened in later times that more than one city claimed the pos-
session of the real Palladium — as, for example, Argos, Athens,
and Rome. Wherever it was believed to be, there the firm
conviction existed that the endurance of the city depended on
the possession of the image, and so it haj)pened afterwards
that the expression Palladium was employed in a wider sense
to objects thought to be of similar importance; and when,
for instance, we hear of the ''Palladium of Freedom being
carried off," we understand that the principal provision and
security of freedom has been lost. The symbols of Athene
were the owl, the cock, the snake, and the olive tree.
96 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
In works of art Athene generally appears as a virgin of serious aspect, armed
with helmet, shield, and spear, wearing long full drapery, and on her breast
the aegis, with a border of snakes, and the face of Medusa in the centre. She
is often accompanied by an owl. Of the many statues of her, the two most
famous in antiquity as works of art were those by the sculptor Pheidias : the
one of gold and ivory stood in her great temple at Athens, the Parthenon.
Some idea is given of it by Plate XII., which represents a restoration from a
presumed copy of the original.
The other was of bronze (Plate XL), colossal in size, and stood on the
Acropolis, towering above the temple just named, the crest of her helmet and
point of her spear being visible from the sea as far away as Cape Sunium, the
most southern point of Attica. Her attitude was that of preparing to hurl her
spear, and the title she bore, that of Fromachos, or " Van of Battle." A
representation of the statue is to be seen on the coins of Athens on which a
view of the Acropolis is given.
The last record we have of the statue of gold and ivory is in the year 375
A. D., how and when it perished remaining still a mystery. The attitude of
the bronze statue exists, it is believed, in several small statuettes, of which
there is one in the British Museum, which was found in Athens. On the
painted vases we find many representations of her birth, of her contest with the
Giants, of her assisting heroes, such as Perseus and Herakles, in their exploits.
The subjects of the sculptures, now in the British Museum, which decorated
the pediments of the Parthenon, were, in the front, her birth, and at the back,
her contest with Poseidon. In the Erechtheum at Athens was an ancient
figure of the goddess, believed to have fallen from heaven; while another
ancient figure of her, the Palladium properly so called, was preserved in the
city under the care of a priestly family named Byzigi. It also was believed
to have fallen from heaven. In its presence was held a court for the trial of
cases of bloodshed.
PHOEBOS-APOLLO and HELIOS, or SOL.
(plate XI.)
From the sun comes our physical light, but that light is at
the same time an emblem of all mental illumination, of know-
ledge, truth, and right, of all moral purity ; and in this respect
a distinction was made between it as a mental and a physical
phenomenon — a distinction which placed Phoebos-ApoUo
, \ ^ Clj^fr' vrf i ^^■^; ^r'^^^ i
Pallas-Athene, by Pheidias.
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. 97
on one side and Helios on the other. Accordingly Phoibos-
Apollo is the oracular god who throws light- on the dark ways
of the future, who slays the Python, that monster of darkness
which made the oracle at Delphi inaccessible. He is the god
of music and song, which are only heard where light and
security reign, and the possession of herds is free from danger.
Helios, on the other hand, is the physical phenomenon of
light, the orb of the sun, which, summer and winter, rises and
sets in the sky. His power of bringing secrets to light has
been already seen in the story of Vulcan and Venus.
The myth of Apollo is, like that of Aphrodite, one of the
oldest in the Greek system, but, unlike the latter, which is at
least partly traceable to oriental influence, is a pure growth
of the Greek mind. No doubt certain oriental nations had
deities of the sun and of light similar in some points to Apollo,
but this only proves the simple fact that they viewed the
movements of the sun and the operations of light in a general
way similarly to the Greeks. We have seen in the preceding
chapters how the sky, earth, sea, and lower world were per-
sonified by divine beings of a high order, while in the same
way other forces and powers in nature were imagined as
beings. In the myth of Apollo we shall find represented the
various operations of the eternal light of the sun.
It is the sun's rays, or the arrows of Apollo, that every-
where, as the fields, and gardens teach us, quicken life, and
foster it towards ripeness ; through them a new life springs all
around, and in the warmth of their soft, kindly light the
jubilant voice of nature is heard and awakens an echo in the
human soul. At the same time these arrows destroy the life
of plants and animals ; even man falls under them in southern
climates, such as Greece. Their light penetrates to dark
7
98 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
corners, and is capable of reaching to inmost recesses. All
these ideas are represented in the myth of Apollo, who is
therefore conceived in various ways corresponding to the genial
radiance of the sun, with all its friendly influences: (i) as the
personification of youth and beauty; (2) as god of earthly
blessings; (3) as god of the herds that graze on the fields
which are warmed by him, — a character in which he appeared
herding the cattle of Laomedon, which multiplied largely
under his care, and when alone piping on his flute, till the wild
beasts were attracted from their dens ; (4) as god of medicine,
who provided for the growth of healing plants; (5) as god of
music, for everywhere were heard happy, joyful sounds, when
his kindly beams spread light and warmth over nature ; (6) as
god of oracles which reveal the secrets of the future, as the
light of heaven dispels all darkness, and detests nocturnal gloom.
The sun appears ever young and powerful in the heavens,
and so also must eternal youth, strength, and endurance be
ascribed to Apollo. For this reason he came to be a pro-
tector of youth when engaged in athletic contests, as well as
in war. But summer heat produces plagues, and so it was
necessary to view Apollo as the cause of the same, as the
god of death, whose unerring arrows carry destruction with
them. In this latter phase of his character we find him styled
Karneios, and worshipped with particular zeal in Sparta, a
festival being held annually in his honour in the month of
August, the entire population withdrawing from the town and
for several days encamping in tents in the neighbourhood,
like a besieging army — the object being, by living in tents, to
avoid the injurious effects of the intense heat of the dog-days.
The name of this festival was Karneia. As a religious cere-
mony, the intention of it was to appease the dreaded god, and
PHCEnOS-APOI>LO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. 99
accordingly it was attended with great reverence in Sparta,
and from thence transplanted to Kyrene, a Greek colony on
the north coast of Africa, to the islands of Rhodes and Sicily,
and to the Greek cities in lower Italy — such as Tarentum and
Sybaris. The finest of the temples in honour of this Apollo
was at Amyklse.
Another phase of his character, in which his destroying
power is combined with his function as god of youth and
blooming vegetation, is represented in the myth from which
he derived the title of Hyakinthios, and enjoyed a form of
worship which was for the most part peculiar to the Pelo-
ponnesos, the modern Morea, extending over the whole of
the south coast of it, to Sikyon, Messenia, Amyklce, and
Sparta. It was accompanied by laments sung from place to
place, and by poetic competitions, the idea to be conveyed in
the whole ceremony being the transitoriness of nature, and the
return of life again in course of time. In this spirit the fes-
tival of the Hyakinthia was celebrated annually at Sparta in
July, and lasted nine days, commencing with sadness and ex-
pressions of grief, and concluding with joyous excitement.
The myth to which this festival related tells how Apollo
accidentally killed, in throwing his disc, the beautiful Hya-
kinthos, whom he dearly loved, the youngest son of Amy-
klas; or, in another version, how Zephyros, the wind-god,
who also loved the boy, hurled back the disc at the head of
Hyakinthos, out of jealousy towards Apollo. The sorrow at
the beginning of the festival of the Hyakinthia was to com-
memorate his death, while the belief that he had been trans-
formed into the flower which sprang up where his blood fell,
and bears hisf name, gave occasion afterwards to happy feel-
ings of confidence in his return. Clearly the object of the
lOO DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
myth, like that of Persephone, was to point to the alter-
nating decay and return of life in nature, which in this in-
stance is conceived under the form of a youth, the disc of
Apollo being equally clearly a symbol of the sun, which
scorches up vegetation.
A similar idea seems to run through the story which relates
how Apollo and Artemis, taking offence at Niobe because,
with a mother's pride, she had boasted herself higher than
Leto as the mother of beautiful children, shot down her
children, — Apollo the sons, and Artemis the daughters.
When one after another had fallen before the angry deities,
all but the youngest daughter, Niobe, with the child cling-
ing to her, implored them in anguish to spare the last of her
many children, but could not avert the fatal shaft. When it
struck, her mother's heart became like a stone, and she refused
to murmur or complain. She was transformed, it was said,
into a rugged rock, down which tears trickled silently (see
plate XIII.).
While bringing sometimes a pleasant death with his arrows,
Apollo at other times, as during the Trojan war, when he took
part against the Greeks, appears to exercise his destroying
power with irresistible fury. Whole ranks of fighting men
fall dead when he shakes his aegis, and the walls raised by the
Greeks tumble like structures of sand made by children at play.
As god of the sun in its friendly influence upon the face of
nature, we find Apollo styled Thargelios, and a festival,
called Thargelia, being held in his honour at Athens in the
month of May, to celebrate the ripening of the fruits of the
field under the warmth of the sun, and at the same time to
serve as a festival of expiation in memory of the human sacri-
fices of ancient days. In August occurred another festival at
Niube.
PHGEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. lOI
Athens, called Metageitnia, at which Apollo, as god of
harvest and j^lenty, was thought of as entertaining the other
gods and encouraging neighbourly feelings among his wor-
shippers. In October the first fruits of the field were presented
to him as a sacrifice, and in September was held a festival at
which he was invoked as a helper in battle. Under the title
of Nomios he was regarded by herdsmen as their patron god.
But the genial influence of the sun is felt on the sea as well as
on land, and for this reason he was styled Delphinios, and
in this capacity worshipped, among other places, at Athens,
where his temple, called the Delphinion, was in early times
a place of refuge and a court for the trial of capital crimes.
An annual festival was held in May, called Delphinia, to
commemorate the tribute of seven boys and seven girls, whom
Athens had been compelled in remote times to send every year
to Crete to be offered as sacrifices to the Minotaur.
As a god of the sun in its annual course, Apollo was thought
to spend the winter away in a northern region among a
mythical people called Hyperboreans, to whom it was always
light. As the winter approached poets sang farewell to him.
At his birth Zeus had given him a mitra (or cap), a lyre, and
a car drawn by swans, in which he was to proceed to Delphi,
but the swans carried him off to the bright land of the Hyper-
boreans. When the summer came the priests of Delphi hailed
his return in festal songs. The voice of the nightingale wel-
comed him back. A peculiar festival, the Daphnephoria,
was held at Thebes every eighth year in honour of Apollo
Ismenios, the ceremony consisting of a procession in which
was carried a branch of olive hung with wreaths and represen-
tations of the sun, moon, stars, and planets, and called the
Kopo. From the statement that the number of wreaths was
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
365, to indicate the days of the year, it may be gathered that
the festival as we know it was not of very high antiquity,
symbols so obvious as this being usually of late origin. On
the other hand, it may be supposed, from the character of
Apollo as sun-god, that the ceremony had existed in a simpler
form in early times. The number seven was sacred to him.
Sacred swans made a circle seven times round the island of
Delos at his birth, which occurred on the seventh day of the
month. From this he took the title of Hebdomeios.
One of the oldest forms of his worship appears to have been
that in which he was regarded simply as god of light, and
styled Lykios, the original centre of this worship being Lycia
in the south-west of Asia Minor.
Turning now to that phase of his character in which he
represents the light of the sun as the symbol of an all-seeing
and all-knowing power, we find Apollo regarded as the great
god of oracles, with Delphi as the principal centre of his
activity. His oracles were there communicated through a
priestess, with the title of Pythia, who sat aloft on a sacred
tripod of gold which stood above the opening of a chasm in
the rock. Out of this chasm rose a continuous stream of cold
vapour, which drove the priestess into a state of frenzy when
she sat above it. Her method of prophesying was by uttering
in her frenzy single words or sounds, which persons educated
for the purpose caught up and put into verse, generally in
such a cunning way as to have, instead of a clear incontro-
vertible meaning, a double and easily mistaken import.
To give one example : the oracle, when consulted by the
Athenians for advice as to how to meet best the approach of
the Persian force, returned as its answer, ''Trust to your cita-
del of wood." This the Athenian sages misunderstood, and
PHCEB03-AP0LL0 AND HELIOS, OR SOL. I03
proceeded to have the Acropolis protected with wooden
bulwarks, which naturally could not for a moment resist the
enemy. Themistocles, however, and the younger men of the
day declared that the words referred to the fleet, and suc-
ceeded in persuading the people to take to the ships, the
result of which was the glorious victory of Salamis. Had the
interpretation of the sages been accepted generally, the oracle
would have had the answer ready, that it meant the fleet. It
was only by such tricks that the oracle of Delphi, clever and
far -seeing as the priests were, could have maintained its repu-
tation for unerringness and its vast influence.
Of the same nature, but apparently older, were the oracles
of Apollo in Asia Minor; as for instance those of Colophon
and Didymi near Miletus, the latter of which was in the hands
of the priestly family of the Branchidse. Sometimes the god
exercised the power of communicating the prophetic gift to
mortals, as he did to Cassandra, and to Deiphobe, a
daughter of Glaukos. The latter lived in a grotto beside the
town of Cumae, in the Campania of Italy, and was known by
the name of the Cumaean Sibyl. It was from her that
Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome, acquired the three
Sibylline books which contained important prophecies con-
cerning the fate of Rome, and were held in great reverence
by the Romans. They were preserved carefully in the Capitol
down to the time of Sulla, -v^hen they perished in a fire. In
Greece also was a famous seer or prophet, and favourite of
Apollo Epimenides, of whom the myth reports that when
a herdsman he fell asleep in a grotto, slept for fifty-six years,
and on awakening found himself endowed with the prophetic
gift in a high degree.
Connected with his gift of prophecy was his power of music.
I04 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
For not only were the oracles expressed in verse, but the
strains of music, when spontaneous, were thought to originate
in an inspired foresight into the future. As god of music he
was leader of the Muses, Musagetes ; and himself played
on a wonderful lyre which Hermes had made for him.
At Delphi he was styled Apollo Pythios, and enjoyed
several annual festivals, such as the Theophania, to cele-
brate his return from the Hyperboreans, and the Theoxenia,
at which, it being harvest time, he was supposed to receive
the other gods at his hospitable table. The principal festival,
however, was that at which the Pythian Games were held.
The games had been instituted to commemorate the victory
of Apollo over the dragon Python, which resisted his en-
trance upon his duties as oracular god at Delphi. They were
held at first every seventh, afterwards every ninth, and latterly
every fifth year.
As being himself possessed of eternal youth, and of the
finest conceivable athletic form, Apollo came to be regarded
as a patron of the athletic contests of youth, and in this capa-
city ranked with Herakles and Hermes. He was the god
also to whom persons polluted either with disease or crime
turned for purification, and on this account his high power
was brought home frequently and seriously to a great part of
the people. He was, therefore, properly viewed as the father
of Asklepios, the god of medicine.
The story of the birth of Apollo is that he, with his twin
sister Artemis, was a son of Zeus and Leto (or Latona) ;
that I^eto, after wandering long hither and thither, pursued by
the jealous Hera, at last found shelter in the island of Delos^
in the Egean sea, and there was delivered. It was said that
hitherto that island had been only a waste rock driven about
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. I05
in the sea, but that it became fixed in its present position on
the occasion of the birth of Apollo and Artemis, an event
which was celebrated by a blaze of golden light shed over the
island, while sacred swans flew round encircling it seven times.
This was in May, and for that reason his festival at Delos, the
Delia, was held in that month. But Leto was compelled,
through the pursuit of Hera, to abandon her children. They
were entrusted to Themis, a name which signifies ''justice,"
and indicates here the indisputable sense of right present with
Apollo from his birth. By her he was fed on ambrosia and
nectar, upon which he grew so strong, and that, too, so
quickly, that within only a few hours after his birth he was a
youth of dazzling appearance, and escaped his divine nurse,
proclaiming that his destiny was to be a bowman, a player on
the lyre and to give truthful oracles to mankind.
To accomplish the end of his ambition he set out at once
on a pilgrimage to search for a suitable place for an oracle,
neither too public nor too retired. After searching through
many districts of Greece he arrived at the quiet rocky valley
of Delphi, or Pytho, which he recognized as the desired spot,
on account of its peaceful position in the heart of Greece.
Moreover there had been an oracle of Themis there from a
remote early time, and she was willing to hand over her duties
to the young god. A terrible dragon, however, called Python,
stood in the way, refused entrance, and tried to repel him;
but in vain, for the young god, confident in the unerring aim
of his arrows, attacked the monster, and slew it after a short
combat. In this way he acquired his world-famed oracle,
and from his victory over the dragon obtained the title of
Pythios.
From that time forward, with one exception, Apollo re-
Io6 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
mained in undisputed possession of the sacred tripod and
oracle at Delphi, and that was when he had to take up their
defence against Herakles, who, because the acting priestess
did not prophesy as he wished, offered her violence and carried
off the tripod. Apollo hastened to the aid of his priestess, and
Zeus had to settle the quarrel between his two sons, who there-
after lived in the closest friendship.
Amongst the other incidents of his life, it is related that
Apollo once incurred the severe displeasure of Zeus, and was
driven for a time out of Olympos, through having shot at
some of the Kyklopes in revenge for Zeus having struck
Asklepios (^sculapius), a son of Apollo, with a thunder-
bolt. During his exile on earth, he acted as a herdsman to
his friend Admetos, the king of Pherse, in Thessaly, and
again in the same capacity to Laomedon, prince of Troy. In
vexation at his banishment he joined with Poseidon in an at-
tempt to dethrone Zeus. But the scheme failed, and both
deities were in consequence sentenced to assist in building
the walls of Troy. Laomedon refused to give them the pay-
ment agreed on for the service, and Apollo revenged himself
by sending a dreadful pestilence which depopulated the town
and neighbourhood of Troy. During the time of his servitude
he had also a quarrel with Pan, who insisted that the flute
was a better instrument than the lyre. The decision, which
was left to Midas, a king of Lydia, was given in favour of
Pan, for which Apollo punished Midas by causing his ears to
grow long like those of an ass. Marsyas, too, had boasted
that he could surpass Apollo in the art of playing on the flute,
and for this had to suffer the cruel punishment of being flayed
alive.
In Rome the worship of Apollo was not established till 320
nrrEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. Icy
B. c, a temple being raised to him in that year in consequence
of a pestilence that had visited the city. Afterwards a second
temple to him was erected on the Palatine hill. The Apolli-
narian Games were instituted during the second Punic war.
No distinction was made by the Greek poets of later times
between Apollo and the sun-god, Helios. As little did the
Romans distinguish between Apollo and Sol. In both cases
tiie confusion arose from the fact that the fundamental idea of
both deities was that of sun-gods. The title of Phoebos plainly
designated Apollo as god of pure streaming light, particularly
of the light of heaven, and this phase of his character was
made more conspicuous by the fact of his mother's name being
Leto, '* darkness, ' ' strictly '' goddess of the dark night. ' ' But
this, his original signification, came in time to be lost sight of
in the variety of other functions which he assumed. Helios,
or Hyperion, on the contrary, remained, properly speaking,
only the orb of the sun which is visible in the heavens by day,
and disappears by night in a regular course. That was the
only signification he had. The number seven was sacred to
him, as it was to Apollo, and in the island of Trinakia, sap-
posed to be Sicily, it was said, he had seven herds of cows
and seven herds of lambs, fifty in each herd, which never in-
creased or diminished in numbers. It was one of his pleasures
to sje them grazing when he rose in the morning and when he
descended in the evening.
Of the sons of Helios the most famous is Phacthon, of
whom it is said that he once had a dispute about his origin
with Epaphos, a son of Zeus and lo, and in consequence
begged Helios, if he really was his father, to prove himself
such by granting one request ; upon which Helios called the
river Styx to witness that he would not refuse to grant it.
Io8 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The request was, that he, Phaethon, should be permitted for
one day to drive the chariot of the sun. Helios, astonished
at the boldness of the request, and alarmed at the danger that
threatened his son in such an undertaking, endeavoured to
move him from his determination. But Phaethon only clung
to the bargain all the more firmly, and Helios, finding him-
self bound by his oath, instructed his son how to drive and
manage the horses, and handed over to him the task for one
day. The youth, however, through being unused to the work,
and unacquainted with the right way, soon became confused,
and lost his strength and his senses. The spirited horses
wheeled out of the right course, and brought the chariot of
the sun so near to the earth that in some places the latter took
fire, fountains were dried up, rivers began to boil, and par.t
of the human race became black in colour. Zeus, alarmed at
the unexpected danger in which both heaven and earth were
thus placed, slew Phaethon with a stroke of lightning, and cast
him from the chariot of the sun down into the river Eridanos.
The three sisters of Phaethon, Heliades, as they were called
— that is, daughters of Helios, Phaethusa, JEgle, and
Lampetia, wept for him a long time, and finally became
transformed into larch trees, that overhang the river's banks,
the tears that continually flowed from them being changed by
the sun into amber {elektron.^ Phaethon's friend Kyknos
mourned his loss deeply, and was transformed into a swan,
while Helios was so grieved at his son's death that only the
entreaties of the gods could prevail on him to resume the
reins of the chariot of the sun.
The symbols of Helios were horses' head::, a crown of seven
rays, a cornucopia, and a ripened fruit. The symbols of Apollo
were the wolf, swan, raven, stag, dolphin, laurel, rxl lyre.
AiV
Artemis, or Diana.
Dionysos. or Bacchus.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. 1 09
In works of art Apollo is usually represented as having the figure of a youth-
ful athlete — perhaps the finest existing statue of him being the Apollo Belvi-
dere of the Vatican. His hair is long, and usually tied, like that of his sister
Artemis, in a large knot above his forehead. In the character of Musagetcs
he wears long ample drapery girt at the waist, a diadem round his head, and
long tresses falling on his shoulders. Though the general representation of
him is that in which he is engaged in playing on the lyre, or resting from doing
so, as in plate xi., we find him also with bow and arrou-s, as Sauroktonos, kill-
ing a lizard, holding forth his aegis to destroy his enemies, and present at the
flaying of Marsyas.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE or LUNA.
(plates XIV. AND XV.)
Originally Artemis was the divine personification of the
moon, just as her brother Apollo was originally god of the
sun. But by degrees, as the moon came to be viewed like the
sun, on the one hand as a mere illuminating orb, and on the
other as possessing a real or apparent and generally believed
influence upon vegetation, and on human as well as animal
life, there grew up a distinction between moon-goddesses of
two kinds, corresponding to the sun-gods of two kinds. The
one was Selene, or Luna, whose signification was merely
that of goddess of the orb of night, as Helios, the sun, was
of the orb of day. The other was Artemis, or Diana, who
embraced in her character all the other functions exercised by
the moon on earthly life, and accordingly, like Apollo, became
the subject of a largely developed religious belief; while the
myth of Selene, on the contrary, like that of Helios, was but
little and sparingly improved upon.
Great as was the variety of the real and fancied influences
of the moon upon natural life, proportionately great was the
variety in the myth of Artemis — a locality of worship some-
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
times, at other times a particular point of view of her charac-
ter determining the phase of it. And further, it should be
observed that many peculiar features in the myths of Artemis
are traceable to the fact of her being twin-sister of Apollo,
whose inner and spiritual qualities she was believed to share.
It was observed that the vegetation of warm southern lands
spread and flourished most under the quickening influence of
the coolness of night and the fall of dew, which often for
whole months was a substitute for the missing rains. It was
known by experience that the fall of dew is most copious when
the sky is clear and the moon sheds her pure light — and hence
to Artemis was ascribed the cause of fertility in this direc-
tion. Hence she was believed to roam by night through woods
and groves, over hills and valleys, accompanied by the nymphs
of the fountains; beside rivers, fountains, and marshes her
presence was felt. But the presence of the moon in the hea-
vens gave security to travellers and to herds, especially from
the attacks of wild animals, whose enemy Artemis was there-
fore thought to be. Under the title of Agrotora she was the
patron goddess of huntsmen, her favourite hunting-ground be-
ing Arcadia, with its many heights and glens well-wooded and
well-watered. Here she was worshipped under the form of a
bear, and called Kalliste, the Arcadians, or bear-people,
boasting their descent from her. On the other hand, the re-
gularly recurring absence of the moon from the heavens, which
could only have been regarded as due to a voluntary act on
the part of the goddess, showed that though opposed to wild
animals, she could also employ them for the purpose of punish-
ing men, and to illustrate this, the story was told of her having
sent among the^tolians the so-called Kalydonian boar, which
laid waste their fields, till after a great hunt it was slain by
ARTK.MIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA.
Meleager and Atalanta. As a huntress her favourite animal
was the stag, because its swiftness gave the best opportunity
for her metliod of capture, which was by bow and speed of
foot. As an instance of how severely she would punish the
wanton slaying of the stag, there is the story of how for such
a crime on the part of Agamemnon she detained the Greek
fleet, on its way to Troy, in the harbour of Aulis, and exacted
from him the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigeneia. Aktaeon,
tlie huntsman, had seen the goddess bathing, and for this of-
fence to her modesty was transformed into a stag, and devoured
by his own hounds — a story which appears to illustrate the
destructive influence of the dog-star, Sirius. Another hunter
whom she slew with her sweet arrows was Orion, a personi-
fication of the bright constellation, which at the beginning of
summer is seen in early morning in the east, where it remains
until extinguished by the morning light. To express this in
the form of a myth, Orion was said to have been too pressing
in his advances towards Eos, the morning, and for this the
goddess of the moon slew him.
From the coincidence observed between the courses of the
moon and the ebb and flow of tides, Artemis came to be viewed
as a goddess who protected the occupation of the fishermen,
not only on the shore and on arms of the sea, but also on
lakes and rivers. In this character she bore the name of
Diktynna, or Britomartis, and was worshipped with zeal
among other places in the island of Crete, where, to account for
the former of her two names, the story was told of her having,
to escape the pursuit of Minos, thrown herself from a rock
into the sea, upon which she was caught in a fisherman's net.
From the joyous feelings awakened by calm moonlight,
and perhaps partly from her relationship to Apollo, she was
112 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
described as fond of music and the dance — a view of her
character which appears to have presented itself in a strong
light to the people of Arcadia.
By whatever process the belief was arrived at, whether from
some comparison which suggested itself between the life of
man and the w^axing and waning of the moon, or whether
because mankind at birth seemed to come out of night into
the light of day, we find Artemis represented as the guardian
and helper of child-birth, with the title of Eileithyia,
Ilithyia,* or Eleutho. She was throughout looked upon as
a goddess of the female productive power in nature, and
accordingly the care and nursing of children through their
illness were placed under her supervision. A festival, accom-
panied by the dancing of young girls, was held in her honour
as the goddess of youth, in Messenia, Lakonia, Elis, and else-
where in Greece. Similarly, from the notion that mankind
after death seems to sink into night again, she came to be
viewed as goddess of death, particularly of that manner of
death which could not be assigned to a known cause — it being
said of those who were stricken suddenly, without an ostensi-
ble cause, such as an injury or wound, that Apollo or Artemis
had laid them low with a kindly arrow : and in these cases
the death of men was ascribed to Apollo, and of women to
Artemis, as a rule.
From the fact that the moon, with its pure serene light,
naturally suggested, as it does to us also, the idea of a modest
pure virgin, Artemis, as her name implies, the 'Miiodest, spot-
less goddess," came to be looked on as a virgin, and as having
under her special care all shy and modest youths, whether boys
* Both names are also assigned to Hera, while Eileithyia herself is de-
scribed as a daughter of Zeus and Hera.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. II3
or girls, from whom slic rcrcivcd presents of wreaths of flowers
in the spring-time. When girls had reached an age at which
her care was no longer necessary, it was customary for them
to dedicate their girdles to the goddess. Young girls were
sometimes called " bears," in allusion to their patron goddess,
and her symbol of a bear. She was worshipped in Athens,
Corinth, and Thebes as goddess of strict upbringing, of good
fame, of upright mind, and of sensibility in the affairs of or-
dinary life. She chased and fired her arrows at all wild and
unchecked creatures and actions.
Wlien only a maiden of tender age she resolved, and ob-
tained Zeus' consent, to remain always in a single state, and,
like Athene, continued constant and true to her resolve,
punishing with great severity every offence against this prin-
ciple on the part of the nymphs who accompanied her, as we
see in the examj^lcs of Daphne, whom she transformed into
a laurel tree, and Kallisto into a bear.
It may have been from the same motive which assigned the
bear as a symbol, that in early times her worship was attended
with human sacrifice. Of this kind was the worship of the
Tauric Artemis, at first peculiar to the countries on the
shores of the Black Sea, the Crimea being the principal centre
of it. From the Crimea, it is said, Orestes brought an image
of the goddess, and transplanted her worship to Greece, where
it took root, among other places, at Sparta. There she was
styled Orthia or Orthosia. The sacrifices of human beings
were however, in later times, commuted for the well-known
ceremony of flogging youths at her altar, said to have been
introduced by the Spartan legislator Lykurgos.
As goddess of marshes she was styled Limnaia, and as a
river goddess Potamia. In this latter capacity she took under
8
114 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
her protection the nymphs of fountains, as, for example, Are-
thusa, whose beauty had attracted the river-god Alpheios,
and made her the object of his constant pursuit, till Artemis
to elude him, caused the water of the spring which she repre-
sented to flow under-ground. As Munychia, or moon-god-
dess, she was worshipped at the harbour of Athens, and en-
joyed an annual festival, at which cakes of the shape of a full
moon, with lights stuck in them, were presented to her. As
Brauronia, with the symbol of a bear, she had a sanctuary
on the Acropolis of Athens. In Euboea she was styled Am-
arynthia, and was worshipped with great ceremony.
Selene, or Luna, it has already been said, stood as god-
dess of the moon, in the same relation to Artemis as did
Helios to Phoebos-Apollo, inasmuch as she merely represented
the orb of the moon, while Artemis represented the influence
exercised on nature by night, the symbol of which was the
moon, as the sun was symbol of day. Accordingly, as com-
pared with Helios, the rising star of day, Selene represents
evening and night, carrying a torch, and clad in long heavy
robes, with a veil covering the back of her head. On her
brow she wears a half-moon (less frequently horns), and leans
forward, as if moving with speed, in a chariot drawn by two
horses ; or she rides on a mule. The story of her love for
the beautiful young Endymion, whom she found asleep on a
hill-side, and, enamoured of his loveliness, descended to him,
is the best known of the myths concerning her, and may be
taken as a symbolical representation of the gentle influence of
the goddess of night, who watches the slumbers of unconscious
creatures. Among the Romans Luna had a handsome tem-
ple, founded by King Servius Tullius, on the Aventine hill,
another on the Capitol, and a third on the Palatine.
XV.
Diana of Ephesus.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. II5
C()mi)arc(i witli the Artemis whom we have up to now been
describing, the so-called Ephesian Artemis, or Diana of
Ephesus, presents (Plate XV.) so very different and strange
an aspect, that at first sight we are completely at a loss to un-
derstand how by any pos'Sibility the term of a virgin could
be applied to her. Her appearance altogether wants the sim-
plicity, humanity, and truth to nature which characterized
the Greek deities, and, v/hat is more, bears the most obvious
signs of maternity. It would seem that the Greeks, who set-
tled as colonists in very early times on the coast of Asia
Minor, found this goddess being worshipped by the native
population of that land, and adopted her in the place of Arte-
mis, who, leaving out the fact of her being a virgin, was pro-
bably identical with the Asiatic goddess in respect of her
divine power over fertility, childbirth, the moon, and hunting.
The worship of Diana of Ephesus extended throughout
the part of Asia Minor colonized by Greeks, and thence spread
to other places — never, however, obtaining a firm footing in
Greece Proper. At Ephesus she had a temple, wliich, for the
grandeur of its architecture, its size, splendour, and wealth,
was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
On the night on which Alexander the Great was born it was
set fire to and almost completely destroyed by a man named
Herostratos, whose object, being simply to hand down his
name in history, was gained. Afterwards, when Alexander
had acquired renown by his extraordinary conquests in Asia,
this coincidence was remarked, and accepted as having been
an omen of his future fame. Whether he himself believed so
or not, he gladly assisted in the rebuilding of the temple, so
that when finished it was more magnificent than before. Diana
was still being worshipped zealously when the Apostle Paul
Il6 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
went to Ephesus to preach Christianity, and accordingly he
was received with hostility, especially by the silversmiths and
goldsmiths, whose trade consisted largely in the production of
small shrines, or representations of the front of the temple of
Diana, to be sold among her worshippers and devotees. Feel-
ing that the success of Paul's preaching would ruin their trade,
they raised so great an opposition to him and his followers that
they were obliged to leave the town. Nevertheless the new
religion found converts, who from that time forward formed a
Christian community there. This Artemis was also worshipped
under the title of Leukophryne in Asia Minor, and as such
had a splendid temple at Magnesia on the Maeander.
Among the Romans the worship of Diana appears to have
been of native growth, and not, as was the case with that of
many of the other deities, imported from Greece. A temple
had been erected to her in Rome on the Aventine hill as early
as the time of King Servius TuUius. Her sacrifices consisted
of oxen and deer ; and these, as well as the fruit presented to
her, had to be perfectly clean and faultless, as became offer-
ings to a virgin goddess. Stags, dogs, and the first-fruits of
the fields were sacred to her.
In works of art Artemis was usually represented as a huntress, either in the
act of running with speed in pursuit of her game, or resting, and presenting
the picture of a young virgin, fleet of foot, her dress girt high, and unencum-
bered except Ijy bow and arrows. In type of face she resembles her brother
Apollo so closely that, from the face alone, it is sometimes difficult to distin-
guish them. Her hair, like his, is gathered into a large knot above the fore-
head. The most celebrated of the statues of her that have come down to us is
the so-called Diana of Versailles. In early works of art, and in some of the
later — as, for example, a marble statue in the British Museum — her drapery
reaches to her feet, but in these cases also she is represented as in active move-
ment, like the moon hastening through the clouds. Of the incidents in which
she figured we fiind that of Aktaeon being transformed into a stag and devoured
DIONYSOS, OR BACCHUS. II7
by his hounds, in a sculptured group, on a painted vase, and on the frag-
ment of a cameo in the British Museum. The hunt of the Kalydonian boar
occurs on painted vases.
The Ephesian Artemis was represented (plate xv.) with a mural crown on
her head. Behind the crown is a disc, as symbol of the full moon ; on her
breast, like a necklace, a garland of flowers, as a sign of her influence in spring
time, while above it are figures of maidens, to indicate her patronage of young
girls; lions cling to her arms; as mother of wild beasts, she has many breasts;
her legs are closely bandaged and ornamented with figures of bulls, stags, lions
and gryphons; at the sides are flowers and bees. How far this figure may
have resembled the original image of the goddess which had fallen from heaven,
it is impossible to say.
Selene or Luna is represented as riding on a mule or a horse ; on the pedi-
ment of the Parthenon it is a horse. On a painted vase in the British Museum
there occurs a representation of sunrise; Helios is seen rising in his chariot,
the stars, in the form of youths, dive headlong into the sea, and the moon (Se-
lene) rides away over the hill-tops on a horse, and as she departs is bayed at
by a dog.
DIONYSOS, OR BACCHUS,
(plate XIV.,)
Having more titles than any of the other deities, was styled, to
increase their number, "God of the many names," of these the
most familiar being, Bromios, Lyaeos, Dithyrambos,
and Bakchos. The belief in the existence and powers of
this god appears to have been borrowed by the Greeks in its
primitive form from oriental mythology, to have been deve-
loped by them, and in later times communicated to the
Romans. His original signification was that of a divine being
whose power might be noticed operating in the sap of vegeta-
tion ; and, accordingly, spring was a season of gladness and joy
for him, and winter a season of sorrow. From this sprung his
double character of god of the vintage and its gay accompani-
ments, and god of the ecstatic and mystic ceremonies in which
Il8 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
his sufferings during winter were deplored. As time went on
he came to be viewed chiefly as the source of the happiness and
mirth which arise from the enjoyment of the noble fruit of the
vine ; while afterwards, from the fact that his festivals in spring
and summer, with their gaiety and mirth, gave occasion to
the first attempts at dramatic performances, he added the
function of god of the theatre to that of god of the vine.
He was born, it was commonly believed, at Thebes, and
was a son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of Kadmos,
the founder of that town, a son of Agenor, and grandson
of Poseidon. Of his birth poets relate how Hera, indig-
nant at this rival in her husband's affections, determined to
get rid of her ; and to this end, assuming a disguise, went to
Thebes, and presented herself to Semele ; how she succeeded
in winning her confidence, and thereupon took occasion to
propose that she should ask Zeus to visit her for once in all
the plenitude of his majesty as a god of thunder, how Zeus,
who, without waiting to listen, had hastily sworn "by the
black waters of the Styx, ' ' to grant whatever she should ask,
was vexed when he heard the foolish request, from granting
which no power could absolve him ; how one day he appeared
before the luckless Semele with a display of thunder and
lightning which caused her death. So far the desire of ven-
geance on the part of Hera was satisfied. But Semele, at the
moment of her death, gave birth to a male child, whose life
Zeus fortunately restored. That was the child Bakchos.
To prevent its suffering at the hands of Hera, Hermes, the
messenger of the gods, was secretly despatched with the infant
to a place called Nysa, where were certain nymphs, to whom,
along with Silenos, the charge of bringing up the child was
entrusted. His title of Dithyrambos, it is said, means
DIONYSOS, OR BACCHUS. II9
^' twice born," and refers to the incident of his life being
restored by Zeus. In after times it was applied to a species
of song in honour of the god of wine, of which Arion of
Methymna wiui the reputed originator.
The childhood of Dionysos was spent in innocence and
happiness among the nymphs, satyrs, sileni, herdsmen, and
vine-tenders of Nysa. But when he arrived at manhood he set
out on a journey through all known countries, even into the
remotest parts of India, instructing the people, as he pro-
ceeded, how to tend the vine, and how to practise many other
arts of peace, besides teaching them the value of just and
honourable dealings. He was praised everywhere as the
greatest benefactor of mankind. At the same time, it is said,
apparently with reference to the fierce and stubborn mood
which in some cases follows copious indulgence in w^ine, that
he met occasionally with great resistance on his journey, but
always overcame it and punished those who opposed him most
severely. As an instance of this, we will take Lykurgos,
the king of Thrace, whom, for his resistance, Dionysos drove
mad, and caused to fell his son, mistaking him for a vine-
plant, and afterwards to kill himself in despair. Or, again,
Pentheus, a king of Thebes, whom he caused to be torn to
pieces by his own mother and her following of women, because
he had dared to look on at their orgiastic rites.
Nowhere was the knowledge of how to utilize the vine ap-
preciated more than in Attica, where the god had communi-
cated it to Ikaros, whose first attempt to extend the benefit
of it to others brought about his own death, an event which
was deeply grieved for afterwards. In December a festival,
with all manner of rustic enjoyments, was held in honour of
Dionysos in the country round Athens. In January, a festival
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
called LfCnaea was held in his honour in the town, at which
one of the principal features was a nocturnal and orgiastic
procession of women. Then followed in February the An-
thesteria, the first day of which was called 'cask-opening
day, ' and the second ' pouring day. ' Lastly came the great
festival of the year, the Great Dionysia, which was held in
the town of Athens, and lasted from the ninth to the fifteenth
of March, the religious part of the ceremon<5^ consisting of a
procession in which an ancient wooden image of the god was
carried through the streets from one sanctuary to another, ac-
companied by excited songs. The theatre of Dionysos was
daily the scene of splendid dramatic performances, and the
whole town was astir and gay.
His worship extended to Lemnos, Thasos, and Naxos, where
the story was told of his turning the Tyrrhenian pirates into
dolphins, and where he found the beautiful Ariadne, when
she had been abandoned by Theseus. It spread to Crete, the
home of Ariadne, and into Asia Minor. In Phrygia he was
worshipped with wild ceremonies, called Sabazia, and in
Thrace and Macedonia, called Kottytia. As the god who
had advanced through Asia Minor and on to India, accom-
panied by his wild and clamorous following, he was styled the
Indian Dionysos, and in this character was represented as ad-
vanced in years.
The sufferings which the god was supposed to endure in
winter led him to be associated with Demeter in the mys-
teries of Eleusis, the purpose of which was, as has been said,
to celebrate the grief of the goddess in winter, and her pros-
pects of joy in the coming spring.
The vine, ivy, and pomegranate were sacred to this god ;
his sacrifices consisted of goats and pigs.
HERMES, OR MERCURY. 121
In works of art Dionysos was represented under a variety of forms ; of these,
however, two are to be specially noticed. The one called the " Indian Bak-
chos" represents him as a man of years, with worthy aspect, a long beard, a
diadem on his brow, and long drapery sweeping "to his feet. In the other fig-
ure he is represented as a beautiful youth with an almost feminine appearance
(plate xiv.), beardless, his hair falling in long tresses, and adorned with a wreath
of ivy or vine tendrils, sometimes wearing the skin of a stag over his shoulders,
or with small horns on his brow, and often in a car drawn by panthers or lions,
or riding on one of these beasts.
At otlier times he appears as a child, and that sometimes when he is being
handed over by Hermes to the care of Silenos and the nymphs of Nysa. The
youthful Dionysos is frequently represented in the company of Ariadne, while
the elder Dionysos is usually accompanied by Sileni and Satyrs, as when he
visited Ikaros and taught him the use of the vine, a scene which occurs on sev-
eral ancient reliefs, of which two are in the British Museum. On his journey
to India he rides on a camel, and on other occasions he is attended by pan-
thers. His staff is a thyrsus — a rod with a pine cone at the top. In his hand is
often a drinking cup. The movement and excitement of the persons who were
associated with Dionysos was a great attraction to Praxiteles and the sculptors
of his time, and it is probable that the many sculptures of Dionysiac subjects
which we now possess come from that.school either as originals or direct imi-
tations.
HERMES, OR MERCURY,
(plates X. AND XVII,,)
A son of Zeus and Maia, a daughter of Atlas, was regarded
in the first instance as the special deity to whom was due the
prolificness and welfare of the animal kingdom. In conse-
quence, however, of the fact that in early times the chief
source of wealth consisted in herds of cattle, the prolificness
of which was traced to him, it came to pass in time that he was
considered generally to be the first cause of all wealth, come
whence it might. But as civilization advanced, and it became
known by experience that there was no means of acquiring
wealth so rapidly as by trade his province was extended to
122 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
trade, and the protection of traders. Again, since the main
condition of prosperity in trade was peace and undisturbed
commerce by land and sea, he came to be viewed as guardian
of commerce. And, further, assuming that all who took part
in trade were qualified to look after their own interests, shrewd
and prudent, the function of protecting prudence, shrewdness,
and even cunning, was assigned to him. In certain aspects
of trade, if not in the best, it was reckoned a great point to
talk over and cajole purchasers, and from his protection of
this method of doing business, Hermes came to be god of
*' persuasive speech" or oratory. Finally, it being only a
short step from this to cunning and roguery, we must not be
surprised to find him described as protector of thieves and
rascals, though no doubt this task was assigned him more in
joke than in earnest.
His office of messenger and herald of the gods, in particular
of Zeus, appears to have originated partly in the duty assigned
to him of protecting commerce, the success of which depends
largely on the messengers and envoys employed in it, and
partly in other functions of his which would lead us too far to
explain. As messenger and envoy of Zeus, Hermes conducts
the intercourse between heaven and earth, announcing the
will of the gods to men, and from this office was further de-
rived his character of a god of oracles. In the capacity of
messenger or herald he had access even 'to the under-world,
whither, under the title of Psychopompos, he guided the
souls of the departed, crossing in Charon's bark, and placing
them before the throne of the deities below. (Plate VI.) From
the shadowy world of spirits to that of sleep and dreams is a
short step for the imagination, and accordingly we find Her-
mes described as Oneiropompos, guide of dreams. As the
HERMES, OR MERCURY. 1 23
swift messenger of the gods he readily came to be looked on
as a model for the youth practising in the paleestra, in which
capacity he had the title of Enagonios.
In proportion to the variety of the tasks which he had to
perform was the variety of mythical stories about his actions
and life, some of them, taking us back to the very day of his
birth. For it was not an uncommon practice in the early
myth-making age to ascribe to the infancy of a god some in-
stance of the peculiar qualities by which he was afterwards
distinguished. So it happened with Hermes.
His birth having taken place on the fourth of the month,
that day became sacred to him. Born, as it was believed,
during the darkness of night, in an unfrequented, lonesome
cave on Mount Kyllene, in Arcadia, and on this account styled
Kyllenios, he was only a day old when a remarkable exam-
ple of his cunning and knavery occurred. Slipping out of the
couch in the cave where he was left asleep as was supposed,
the night being dark and cloudy, he found a herd of cattle
belonging to his brother Apollo (as sun-god), and stole a
number of them. When the morning came Apollo searched
in vain for the missing cattle; for the infant god had cleverly
succeeded in obliterating all traces of them by fastening
bunches of broom to their hoofs, and in this condition driving
them backwards into a cave at Pylos, so as to produce the im-
pression that they had left instead of entered the cave. After
this adventure he slunk back to his couch, and feigned to be
asleep. He had, however, been observed by a rustic named
Battos, who informed against him, whereupon Apollo, angry
at such a daring piece of robbery, dragged him out of his
couch, and took him off to the throne of Zeus to be punished
and made an example of. But Hermes was irrepressible,
124 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDEE.
took up a lyre which he had made the day before out of the
shell of a tortoise, and proceeded to play on it, to the amuse-
ment and delight of both Zeus and Apollo, and further in-
gratiated himself with his brother by giving him the lyre, in-
venting for his own use a shepherd's pipe. The cattle of the
sun-god were the clouds, and Hermes was a god who presided
over the fertility of nature. The signification of the story of
his stealing some of these cattle on a dark night would there-
fore seem to be simply that of clouds discharging fertilizing
showers by night.
The two brothers having thus made their peace, continued
from that time forward on the best of terms, Apollo attesting
his good disposition towards Hermes by giving him in return
for the lyre a present of a golden divining-rod, and also the
power of prophecy. This condition, however, was attached
to the gift, that he was not to communicate his revelations of
the future by words as did Apollo, but by signs and occur-
rences. That is to say, that persons revolving some under-
taking in their mind were to be guided by certain unexpected
sights, accidents, or incidents, and were to recognize in them
the favour or displeasure of the gods with reference .to the
enterprise in question, — a method of proceeding common
enough in modern superstition. These signs and incidents
were believed to be sent by Hermes, whose counsel in other
cases of doubt, as to whether to do or not do a thing, was
sought for by recourse to dice, the belief being that a high
throw signified his approval, and a low throw the reverse.
The cunning and adroitness, the same good humour and
ready answer which he gave proof of in the first days of his
infancy, were often afterwards and with like success displayed
by him — ^as, for example, when he stole the sceptre of Zeus,
xr
V.
Hepliaestos, or Vulcan.
Hermes, or Mercury.
HERMES, OR MERCURY.
Aphrodite's girdle, Poseidon's trident, the sword of
Ares, the tongs of Hephaestos, or Apollo's bow and ar-
lows, in each case managing to make up matters, and smooth
away the indignation of his victims. But the most celebrated
instance in which his brilliant talents were fully displayed was
the affair of Argos with the hundred eyes, whom Hera had
appointed to watch over lo, one of the favourites of Zeus,
whom the latter, that she might escape the vengeance of the
jealous Hera, had transformed into a cow, a trick which the
goddess had perceived.
Well, Hermes being commanded by Zeus to release lo from
the surveillance of Argos, and in doing so to use no force,
found the task no easy matter, seeing that the watchman had
a hundred eyes, of which, when in his deepest sleep, only fifty
were closed. Hermes succeeded, however, and in this fashion.
Presenting himself to Argos, he commenced to amuse him by
telling all kinds of tales, and having by these means fairly
gained the watchman's confidence, he next produced a
shepherd's pipe, and played on it various tunes of such sweet-
ness that they gradually lulled Argos into so deep a sleep that
one by one all his hundred eyes closed. The moment the last
eyelid drooped Hermes slew him, and at once released lo, and
led her away. For this service he rose high in the estimation
of Zeus, and from that time the name of '' Argos-slayer,"
Argeiphontes, was the proudest title which he bore. As a
memorial of Argos, Hera, it was said, set his eyes in the tail
of her favourite bird, the peacock. But these and such-like
instances of his knavery and cunning do not by any means
express the whole character of Hermes ; for his skill was also
directed frequently to purposes of useful invention. It was he,
for example, who invented Apollo's lyre, as well as that one
126 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
by which the Thcban musician, Amphion, did such wonders;
and it was lie who taught Palamedes to express words in
writing. And, Ijesides, wherever danger that required skill
and dexterity as much as courage presented *itself, he was al-
ways present to assist. He acted as guide to heroes in their
dangerous enterprises, and in that capacity frequently, as in
the case of Herakles, was associated with Athene. To tra-
vellers who had lost tlieir way he was a ready guide, and to
exiles a constant and willing helper in strange lands and among
ill-disposed people.
In the primitive form of his worship Hermes was, as has
been said, the god who gives prolificness to flocks and herds.
In this character we find him in what appears to have been the
oldest centre of his worship in Greece, that is in Samothrace
and the neigliljouring islands of Imljros and Lemnos, where
he bore the title of Kadmilos or Kasmilos. His usual title
among herdsmen was either Nomios or Epimelios.
A messenger himself, it became his office to aid human mes-
sengers and travellers, and to this end it was he who inspired the
idea of erecting sign-posts at cross-roads with directions as to
whither each road led. These sign-posts took the form of sta-
tues, if they may Ije so c;alled, consistingof a pillar running nar-
rower towards the foot, and surmounted by a head of Hermes,
and called Hermse. It was the duty of travellers on i)assing
one of them to place a stone beside it, a custom which not only
largely helped towards clearing the fields of stones, but also led
to improvement in the roads themselves, and hence to in-
creased facilities for commerce. If more than two roads crossed,
a corresponding number of heads were placed on the pillar,
one facing each way. Similar figures were also found outside
houses in Athens for the purpose of cheering parting travellers.
JVVlii.
Themis.
Leto, or Latona.
THEMIS. 127
The attributes of Hermes were the caduceus or kerykeion^
that is, a short staff with a pair of wings and a knotted snake
attached to it, and the pdasos or winged cap. Beside him
sometimes is a cock or a goat. For sacrifice he delighted in
the tongues of animals, a suitable sacrifice to the god of oratory.
The Roman Mercurius appears to have possessed in
common with Hermes only the character of god of trade and
oratory. Roman traders held a festival to him on the 25 th of
May.
In the earlier works of art Hermes appears bearded and about middle age,
frequently carrying a sheep or a kid over his shoulders. His form is athletic.
In more recent works we find him of a youthful figure, such as became his
office as messenger of the gods. He wears the petasos, and sometimes wings
at his heels, carries the caducetis, and sometimes, as god of trade, a purse.
Among the incidents of his life, one which occurs frequently on the painted
vases is that in which he appears presenting the three goddesses to Paris, who
had to decide their claims as to which of them was the most beautiful. Some-
times he is represented in sculptures as a mere boy. Many of the Hermae
described above have come down to our times.
THEMIS,
(plate XVIII.,)
A daughter of Uranos and Gaea, was the personification of
that divine law of right which ought to control all human
affairs, of that highest and noblest sense of right which is sub-
ject to no human influences. In this capacity she came to be
viewed also as goddess of the rites of hospitality. She was
a personification of divine will as it bore upon the affairs of
the world, and accordingly the Delphic oracle had been under
her control before it was yielded to Apollo, to whom, as her
successor, she communicated the prophetic art. A long time
128 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
passed before Zeus could persuade her to become his wife —
his first wife, as some myths have it; his second, according to
others, whicli say that Metis was his first. To him she bore
the Horae, Moerse or Parcae, and Astrasa, the goddess of
justice, of whom we have already told hoAv she forsook the
earth during the Bronze Age. The proper home of Tliemis
was 01}Tnpos, and hence she was styled Urania. But during
the war with the Titans she descended to earth, and there,
throughout the Golden Age, taught mankind the exercise-^f
right and moderation. "WHiien, afterwards, the human race
sank into degradation, she retmned again to 01}Tnpos.
In consequence of the profound wisdom and open truthful-
ness which formed the essential features of the character of
Themis, even the supreme gods consulted and acted on her
advice; as, for example, did Zeus, when he declined to
marry Thetis, because of the prediction of Tliemis, that a
son would be the issue of the marriage, who would excel even
his father in might. We shall afterwards have to relate how
Thetis was given in marriage to Peleus, a mortal, in order
that her son might not be a source of danger to the gods.
The worship of Themis extended to many districts of Greece,
where temples, altars, and statues were raised in her honour.
The principal centres of it, however, were Athens, Trcezene,
the island of ^gina, Thebes, and Olympia.
Ancient artists represented her as a woman of mature age,
with large open eyes; while modern artists — and they alone,
it must be observed — figure her as in Plate XVIII.
She is further represented holding a sword and chain in
one hand and a balance in the other, to indicate the severity
and the accuracy with which justice is to be meted out and
administered.
HORyE. 129
II. INFERIOR DEITIES.
HITHERTO our descriptions have been confined to those
deities of the Greeks and Romans, who, because their
functions were subordinate to no god but Zeus, were styled
of the superior order, or Olympian deities, Hades and Per-
sephone being included, though their realm was the under-
world, not Olympos. We proceed now to the inferior order,
such as occupied subordinate positions in the system of gods,
but were nevertheless worshipped independently, if not so
universally as the others.
We begin with the
HORyE,
(plate XXV.,)
The goddesses of the *' seasons," daughters of Zeus and
Themis. Their number was variously estimated according to
the variety of the divisions of the year into periods, — ^winter,
however, not being reckoned as one, because it was the season
of sleep and death in nature. Thus we find the worship of
only two goddesses of seasons in Athens, the one called Thallo,
or goddess of "blossoming," and the other Karpo, or god-
dess of ''harvest and fruit." But elsewhere in Greece the
9
130
INFERIOR DEITIES.
usual number was three, and as such they were represented in
works of art (see Plate XXV.), with the attributes of the sea-
sons : Spring with its flowers. Summer with its grain, and
Autumn with its grapes and fruit.
Occasionally we find a fourth season, that of Winter, rep-
resented in the act of returning with booty from the chase ;
but, unlike her sisters, she is nameless.
As deities of the kindly seasons which bring about the bud-
ding and growth of nature, they were directly under the_con-
trol of the superior deities, especially of Zeus and Hera. At
times they are to be seen along with the Charites (Graces)
in the company of Aphrodite, and sometimes along with the
Muses in the company of Apollo ; for it is in the happy sea-
sons of the year that the joyous voice of nature is heard.
In the capacity of goddesses who watched over the blessings
of the fields, it became their duty, further, to regulate changes
of the weather, now opening and now shutting the gates of
heaven, alternately sending rain and sunshine as suited best
the increase of vegetation. Tender and gladsome, moving in
mazy dances, with crowns of gold and of flowers, they were
always good and faithful to mankind, and, though sometimes
seeming to be impatient to come late, always bringing with
them something sweet and beautiful, never proving untrue or
deceitful.
The figure (in Plate XXXI.) represents a Hora dancing,
with a wreath of palm-leaves on her head. The dish of fruit
in her left hand probably indicates that she is the Hora of
Autumn.
Such were their functions in nature. In consequence, how-
ever, of the great and plenteous blessings that were observed
to flow from the unchangeable and orderly succession of the
POMONA.
131
seasons, the Horse were also supposed to watch over good order
and propriety in human life and morality — a task wliich seems
to have given rise to the belief that they were daughters of
Themis. Their names, in the cases where the three appear
together, have been admirably chosen to suit this metaphorical
notion of their character: as, Eunomia (wise legislation).
Dike (justice), and Eirene (peace). Eunomia's services
were mostly directed to political life, the results being warmly
praised by poets, and her worship never neglected by the State.
Dike's sphere of operations was more among the incidents of
the lives of individuals, informing, it was said, her father Zeus,
of every injustice done on earth. Eirene, finally being the
most cheerful of the three sisters, was said to have been the
mother of Plutos — that is, of riches, the gay companion of
Dionysos, and guardian goddess of songs and festivities.
The goddess of spring was also especially worshipped as a
Hora (plate XXI.) under the title of Chloris, which corres-
ponds to the Roman Flora. She was the goddess of buds
and flowers, of whom Boreas, the north winter wind, and
Zephyros, the west spring wind, were rival lovers. She
chose the latter, and became his faithful wife.
POMONA
Was goddess of garden fruits, -and was represented wearing a
v/reath composed of such, or holding in her hand a horn of
plenty full of them, with a dog by her side. Her appearance
was that of a virgin in rustic garments. It was said that she
had been originally a Hamadryad, but had yielded her af-
fections to Vertumnus. Her worship was confined to the
132
INFERIOR DEITIES.
Romans. She had a priest, styled flamen pomonalis, spe-
cially devoted to her service.
VERTUMNUS,
The husband of Pomona, was worshipped by the Romans as
a deity of the second order, who watched over the seasons as
well as the garden fruits, and was represented with attributes
similar to those of Pomona. In October an annual festival,
resembling a harvest thanksgiving, was held in his honour,
the offerings brought him on that occasion consisting of first-
fruits from the garden, and wreaths of flowers of all kinds.
Like Pomona, he, too, had a priest of his own. At times he
was represented, like Saturn, with a pruning-knife in his
hand, and a wreath composed of ears of corn on his head.
Originally he was worshipped under the form of a rough
wooden post, but had afterwards a beautiful bronze statue
made by a Roman artist.
JANUS,
(plate xvii.,)
Was a deity unknown to the Greeks, but from the earliest
times held in high estimation by the Romans, who placed him
on almost an equal footing with Jupiter, even giving his
name precedence in their prayers, and invoking the aid of
both deities previous to every undertaking. To him they as-
cribed the origin of all things, the introduction of the system
of years, the change of season, the ups and downs of fortune,
and the civilization of the human race by means of agricul-
ture, industry, arts, and religion. According to the popular
XVII.
Janus.
Hermes, or Mercury.
JANUS. 133
belief, Janus was an ancient king who had come in remote
early times from Greece to Latium, there instituted the wor-
ship of the gods and the erection of temples, and himself
deserved high honours like a god, for this reason, that he had
conferred the greatest boon upon mankind by his instructions
in many important ways. In some of the stories he is con-
founded with Saturn. In others it is said that Saturn, driven
out of Greece, took refuge with Janus in Latium, and shared
the government with him.
It is easy to explain the great honour paid to Janus by a
people like the Romans, who, as a rule, had this peculiarity of
pondering well the prospects of an undertaking before enter-
ing upon it. The beginning of everything was a matter of
great importance to them, and Janus was the god of a *' good
beginning." It is in this spirit that the Roman poet, Ovid,
makes Janus say, "Everything depends on the beginning."
Even when Jupiter had consented to an enterprise, prosperity
in carrying it out was believed to be under the control of
Janus, and, accordingly, great stress was laid on the circum-
stances attending the commencement of any project. Janus
opened and closed all things. He sat, not only on the con-
fines of the earth, but also at the gates of heaven. Air, sea,
and land were in the hollow of his hands. The world moved
on its hinges at his command.
In accordance with this belief, he was represented, as in
Plate XVII., seated, with two heads, one being that of a
youth, to indicate 'beginning,' the other that of an old man,
to indicate the 'end,' whence he was styled Bifrons (two-
headed). In his left hand is a key, to show that he opens at
the beginning, and shuts at the end; the sceptre in his right
is a sign that he controls the progress of every undertaking.
134 INFERIOR DEITIES.
The first day of January, a month named after him, being
the first day of a new year, was the occasion of a celebration
in his honour. At the beginning of every month the priests
offered sacrifice to him at twelve altars. He was invoked every
morning as the beginner of a new day. Even at the sacrifices
to other gods he was remembered, and received offerings of
wine and cakes, incense, and other things. The husbandman
prayed to him at the beginning of seed-time. When war was
declared he was invoked. ___
The public worship of Janus as a god was introduced into
Rome as early as the time of Numa Pompilius, a foundation
for its establishment having been previously laid during the
reign of Romulus. The story runs, that the Sabines having
once made an assault on the newly built town of Rome, a
spring of boiling water suddenly appeared, and was the means
of destroying these enemies. On this spot a temple was
erected in honour of Janus, the gates of which stood open so
long as Rome was at war, and were closed with great cere-
mony and rejoicing only in times of general peace. Rome
was, however, so continually engaged in war that, in the course
of the first seven hundred years after the foundation of the
city the gates of the temple were closed only three times — in
the reign of Numa Pompilius, after the first Punic war, and
during the reign of Augustus. Hence the temple of Janus
with its gates shut came to be a very emphatic symbol of peace.
TERMINUS,
Was the god of boundaries, and had, when represented in art,
the figure of a boundary stone or pillar surmounted by a head,
as in the case of the figures of Hermes by tlvj wayside in
PRIAPOS. 135
Greece. Such figures of Terminus were occasionally sur-
mounted by the head or bust of another god, as, for example,
of Apollo or Atlicne, and in such cases were styled Herma-
poUo, Hermathene. Pan and Priapos, both rural deities,
were also frequently represented in such a form.
Numa Pompilius is said to have erected the first altar to this
boundary god. Terminus, and to have instituted his worship
among the Romans. To accustom his subjects to respect the
boundaries of their neighbours, he ordered them to be marked
off with figures of the god, and a festival to be held in his
honour annually in February. It was called the Terminalia.
Boundary stones were adorned with flowers on the occasion,
and a general sacrifice offered, accompanied by lively songs.
PRIAPOS,
Called also Lutinus by the Romans, was a son of Dionysos
and Aphrodite. He was a god of the fertility of nature, and,
in this caj)acity, also guardian of vineyards, gardens, and cul-
tivated fields. The idea of representing the productive power
of nature under the form of a god is traceable back to a very
great antiquity, but in later and depraved times it came to be
misused for the purpose of giving expression to coarse sensual-
ity and lust. This accounts for the diversity of his represen-
tations, of which, however, that is the most correct in which
he appears as a man of years holding a pruning-knife in his
hand, and fruit in his lap. The principal centre of his wor-
ship was Lampsakos, a town in Asia Minor, on the Hellespont,
whence it spread over Greece. His symbols were, like those
of Dionysos, a drinking-cup, a thyrsus, or a spear. At the
festivals in his honour the sacrifices consisted of milk, honey,
and asses.
136 INFERIOR DEITIES.
PAN,
(plate XIX.)
Was looked upon by the pastoral inhabitants of Greece, par-
ticularly in Arcadia, as the god who watched over the pasture-
fields, herdsmen, and herds. Woods and plains, hunting and
fishing, were under his immediate care and patronage, and on
this account he was differently described as a son now of Zeus,
now of Hermes, his mother being in each case a nymph. As
god of green fields he was associated with the worship of
Dionysos (Bacchus), and as mountain god with that of
Kybele. He was fond of sportive dances and playing on
the shei)herd's pipe, which afterwards took its name of Pan's
pipe from him, the story being that he was the inventor of it.
It seems that a coy nymph named Syrinx, whom he loved and
followed, was transformed into a reed, that Pan cut it and
fashioned it into a pipe (Syrinx) with such sweet notes when
skilfully played, that he once ventured to challenge Apollo
to a competition.
The judge selected was Midas, who awarded the prize to
Pan, and was, in consequence, punished by Apollo, who made
his ears grow like those of an ass.
As a god of herdsmen and country people, he journeyed
through woods and across plains, changing from place to place
like the nomadic or pastoral people of early times, with no fixed
dwelling, resting in shady grottoes, by cool streams, and playing
on his pipe. Hills, caves, oaks, and tortoises were sacred to him.
The feeling of solitude and lonesomeness which weighs
upon travellers in wild mountain scenes, when the weather is
stormy, and no sound of human voice is to be heard, was as-
PAN. 137
cribed to the presence of Pan, as a spirit of the mountains, a
sort of Number Nip. And thus anxiety or alarm, arising from
no visible or intelligible cause, came to be called '' Panic
fear," that is, such fear as is produced by the agitating pres-
ence of Pan.
His common companions were Nymphs and Oreads, who
danced to the strains of his pipe, and were not unfrequently
pursued by him with violence. It is said that he rendered
important service to the gods during the war with the Titans,
by the invention of a kind of trumpet made from a sea-shell,
with which he raised such a din that the Titans took fright,
and retreated in the belief that some great monster was ap-
proaching against them. Another story is, that Dionysos
being once seriously attacked by a hostile and very numerous
body of men on his way to India, was freed from them by a
sudden terrible shout raised by Pan, which instantly caused
them to retreat in great alarm. Both stories appear to have
been invented to give a foundation for the expression ''Panic
fear," which has been explained above.
Pan, also called Hylseos or forest god, was usually repre-
sented as a bearded man with a large hooked nose, with the
ears and horns and legs of a goat, his body covered with hair,
with a shepherd's pipe (syrinx) of seven reeds, or a shepherd's
crook in his hand, as in Plate XIX.
From Greece his worship was transplanted among the
Romans, by whom he was styled Inuus, because he taught
them to breed cattle, and Lupercus, because he taught them
to employ dogs for the purpose of protecting the herds against
wolves. The other forest deities, who were represented like
Pan with goat's legs, were called ^gipanes, and sometime?
Paniski.
138 INFERIOR DEITIES.
FAUNUS, OR FATUUS,
Was a purely Roman deity, originally resembling the Greek
Pan, as is implied in the name, which is only another form
of the same word. In process of time, however, his character
passed through many changes, and became different in many
respects from that of the Greek god. It was not till late times,
when the religion and myths of the Greeks emigrated into
Italy, that the comparison of him with the Arcadian Pan was
revived, and the identity of both asserted. The Roman poets
frequently call the Greek Pan by the Roman name of Faunus.
But the latter had certain myths peculiar to himself, and is
represented by them as a son of Picus, and grandson of Sa-
turnus, or, according to another version, a son of Mars, and
originally an ancient king of Latium, who, for the good he
did his people, by introducing agriculture and civilization,
came to be worshipped after his death as a prophetic deity of
forest and field, under the name of Fatuus. His oracles were
delivered in groves, and communicated by means of dreams,
which those desiring them obtained by sleeping in sacred
places on the hides of animals that had been offered as sacri-
fices. Fauna also delivered oracles, but only to women.
(See below. )
As god of the husbandman and patron of agriculture and
cattle-rearing, an annual festival, the L#upercalia, or Faun-
alia, was celebrated in his honour by the Romans on the 5th
of December. It was accompanied by sacrifices of goats,
offerings of milk and wine, banquets, and dancing in the open
air in meadows and at cross-roads. In the middle of Febru-
ary also sacrifice was presented to him. He had two temples
in Rome. Artistic representations of him are rare, and not
PICUS, PICUMNUS, AND PILUMNUS. 1 39
easily distinguished from those of Pan. The plural form of
the word, Fauni, is merely a Roman expression for what the
Greeks "called Paniski or Panes.
PICUS, PICUMNUS, AND PILUMNUS.
Picus was also a pure Roman deity, a son and a successor of
Saturnus, father of Faunus, and husband of Canens. He
was an ancient prophet and forest god. Another story has it
that he loved and married Pomona. Circe, the witch, was
attracted by his beauty, and finding her affection not returned,
revenged herself by changing him into a woodpecker — a bird
which was held to be a sacred symbol of prophecy by the
Augurs or Roman priests, whose office was to foretell coming
events by observing the flight of birds and by various other
phenomena. In early times his figure consisted of a wooden
pillar with a woodpecker on it, which was afterwards exchanged
for a figure of a youth with a woodpecker on his head, the Ro-
mans generally considering the appearance of that bird to be
a sign of some special intention of the gods. Picus, besides
being worshipped as a prophet and a god, was also looked upon
as one of the first kings of Italy, and must not be confounded
with Picumnus, who, with his brother Pilumnus, formed
a pair of Roman deities whose office was to watch over married
life. It was the custom to spread a couch for them at the
birth of a child. Pilumnus, it was said, would drive away
all illness from the childhood of the newly-born infant with
the club (ptliim) with which he used to pound the grain ;
while Picumnus, who had introduced the manuring of land,
would give the child growth. Stories were told of the two
brothers, of famous deeds in war and peace, such as were
ascribed to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).
I40 INFERIOR DEITIES.
FAUNA, OR FATUA,
The wife, or, according to other myths, the daughter of
Faunus, was a Roman goddess, whose origin and significa-
tion have been rendered very obscure by the variety of stories
about her. She was identified with the goddess Ops, with
Kybele, with Semele, the mother of Dionysos (Bacchus),
with Mala, the mother of Hermes, with Gaea, Hekate, ^nd
other goddesses. In the earliest times she was called simply
the "kind goddess," h/ 'j.jroper name as well as her origin
being given out as a mystery. Her festival took place on the
first night of May, and was celebrated with wine, music, merry
games, and mysterious ceremonies, at which only women and
girls were permitted to be present. Fauna obtained the
name of the "kind goddess" because, as some thought, her
benevolence extended over the whole creation, in which case
it was not strange that she should be identified with other
deities. As Fatua she was represented with the appearance
sometimes of Juno, sometimes of Kybele, but commonly as an
aged woman, with pointed ears, holding a serpent in her hand.
The offspring of Fatua and Fatuus were the Fatui, who were
considered to be prophetic deities of the fields, and sometimes
evil genii, who were the cause of nightmares and such like.
The name and obscure significations of this goddess seem to
have given rise to the fantastic creations of modern times, which
we call Fays — that is, beings with the power of witchcraft and
prophecy, and possessed now with good, now with bad quali-
ties,— now useful and helping to men, now mischievous.
THE SATYRS. 141
THE SATYRS,
(plate XIX.,)
Like the Roman Silvanus, belong to the order of forest
deities, and are often confounded with the Panes and Fauni,
though quite distinct from them. They represented the genial,
luxuriant life in Nature, which, under the protection and with
the aid of Dionysos (Bacchus), spreads over fields, woods and
meadows, and were, without doubt, the finest figures in all his
company. As such at least they appear in the art of the best
times, being never figured, like the j.nes or Paniski, as half
man, half animal, but at most exhibit only such signs of an
animal form, as small goat's horns, and a small goat's tail, to
show that their nature was only a little inferior in nobility to
that within the divine or pure human form.
The Satyrs constitute a large family, and may be distin-
guished into several classes, the highest of which were those
who nearly resembled their god (Dionysos) in appearance,
and whose occupation was either to play on the flute for his
amusement, or to pour out his wine. To another class be-
longed those older figures, distinguished by the name of
Sileni ; and to a third, the very juvenile so-called Satyriski.
The figure given in Plate XIX. is that of a satyr of the high-
est order. He is represented as a slender youth leaning care-
lessly on the trunk of a tree, resting from playing on a flute.
His hair is shaggy; on his brow are very small goat's horns.
His countenance has a touch of animal expression in it. He
wears nothing but a ncbris or panther's skin thrown over his
shoulder.
The life of the Satyrs was spent in woods and on hills,
142 INFERIOR DEITIES.
in a constant round of amusements of all kinds : hunting,
dancing, music, drinking, gathering and pressing the grapes,
or in the company of the god, whirling in wild dances with
the Maenads. Their musical instruments were the syrinx, flute,
and cymbals.
We may remark in passing, that the term '^satire," com-
monly applied to poems of abuse, has nothing whatever to
do with the Satyrs, and for this reason should not be written
*' satyre," though derived from satura. The latter is^n, old
Latin word, which signified originally a poetic dialogue or
gossip, which from its nature was admirably adapted for con-
veying criticism and indirect abuse, or satire in our sense
of the word.
KOMOS,
Was worshipped as guardian of festal banquets, of mirthful
enjoyments, of lively humour, fun, and social pleasure, with
attributes expressing joy in many ways. On the other hand,
he was represented frequently as an illustration of the conse-
quences of nightly orgies, with torch reversed, in drunken
sleep, or leaning against something.
SILVANUS,
Like Faunus, was purely a Roman god, whose function
also was to watch over the interests of herdsmen, living in
woods and fields, and taking care to preserve boundary lines
and banks of rivers. It was said that he erected the first
boundary stones to mark off the fields of different possessors
from each other, and thus became the founder of a regular
system of landowning. He was distinguished according to
PALES.
143
the three departments of his activity, house, field, and wood.
In works of art Silvanus appears altogether as a purely
human figure — a cheerful aged man holding a shepherd's pipe,
(for he, like the other deities of wood and field, was given to
music,) and carrying a branch of a tree to mark him specially
as god of the forest. This branch, which sometimes is that
of a cypress, is explained as referring to his love for the beauti-
ful Cyparissus, whom he is said to have changed into a
cypress. There was a figure of Silvanus in Rome beside the
temple of Saturn, and two sanctuaries dedicated to him.
Women were excluded from his worship. The myths are not
clear about his origin. Some of them describe him as a son
of Saturn.
PALES,
Was worshipped originally in Sicily, and afterwards by the
Romans, as a deity of cattle-rearing, being, according to some,
male, according to others, female. A merry festival, called
Palilia, was held in honour of this deity every year on the
2ist of April, the day on which the foundation of the city of
Rome was said to have been laid. Offerings of milk and
must were presented to her, while pipes were played and cym-
bals beat round a blazing fire of hay and straw. An ox was
driven through this blazing fire, the herdsmen rushing after
it, a ceremony intended for a symbol of expiation. This fes-
tival, because of its falling on the anniversary of the founda-
tion of the city, served also to commemorate that event.
This ancient deity was represented as an aged woman lean-
ing on a leafless branch of a tree, or holding a shepherd's
crook in her hand, and was frequently identified with Fauna,
sometimes with Kybele, and even with Vesta.
144 INFERIOR DEITIES.
SILENOS, AND THE SILENI.
In some of the myths Silenos is represented as a son of
Hermes (Mercury,) in others, of Pan and a nymph, the
latter statement accounting for his being figured with the tail
and ears of a goat, while the rest of his form was purely hu-
man. He was usually described as the oldest of the Satyrs,
— of whom, indeed, all those well advanced in years were
styled Sileni. Owing to his age, he came to be lookedT^on
as a sort of paternal guardian of the light-headed troops of
Satyrs, though, with regard to mythological signification, he
was quite different from them. One myth traces his origin,
along with the worship of Dionysos (Bacchus), to Asia Minor,
and particularly to the districts of Lydia and Phrygia, the
original centre of the worship of Kybele (Rhea.) In that
quarter he was looked on as a sprite or daemon of fertilizing
fountains, streams, marshy land, and luxuriant gardens, as
well as the inventor of such music as was produced by the
syrinx (Pan's pipe) and the double flute which was used in
the worship of Rhea and Dionysos.
According to other stories, he was born in and was the first
king of Nysa, but which of the many places of that name re-
mains untold. It was most probably Nysa in Thrace; for
Silenos, with the help of local nymphs, nursed and tended
the infancy of Dionysos, as works of art show, and this, ac-
cording to the myths, was spent in Thrace.
To the Greek mind he appeared specially as a companion
of Dionysos, one who knew how to press the grapes for wine,
and so much loved that liquid as readily to indulge in it to
excess, in which case the Satyrs kept him steady on his ass.
OKEANOS, TETHYS, PROTEUS. 145
or else he would have fallen. To express this feature of his
character, he was figured with a wreath of vine tendrils on his
head, with a drinking-cup or wine-skin in his hand, or intoxi-
cated and supported by two Satyrs. He was a short, round-
bellied, hairy old man, with a bald head.
The ass or mule he used to ride was described as a most in-
telligent beast, and said to have distinguished itself at the
time of the war with the Giants, in which its master, as com-
panion and body-servant, a sort of Sancho Panza, to Dionysos,
took part, by braying so loudly as to alarm the Giants, and
help to put them to flight.
OKEANOS, TETHYS, PROTEUS,
Okeanos, a son of Uranos and Gaea, was god of the sea,
and, like Nereus, was looked upon as the father of a large
family of marine deities who went by the general name of
Okeanides (see below). He was figured like Nereus, but with
the addition of a bull's horn, or two short horns, a sceptre in
his hand to indicate his power, riding on a monster of the deep,
or sitting with his wife, Tethys, by his side in a car drawn by
creatures of the sea. He is said to have been the most upright
of his brother Titans, and to have had no share in the con-
spiracy against Uranos. For this reason he retained his office,
while the other Titans were consigned to Tartaros. It was
under the care of Okeanos and his wife that Hera grew up,
and to them she turned for safety during the war with the
Titans. So quickly had his offspring spread among the rivers,
streams, and fountains of the earth, that the sons alone were
reckoned as three thousand in number. He was also identified
with the great stream, Okeanos, which was supposed to flow in
lO
146 INFERIOR DEITIES.
a circle round the earth, and to be the source of all rivers and
running waters. His daughters, the Okeanides, were, like all
marine deities, represented with crowns of sea-weeds, strings of
corals, holding shells, and riding on dolphins. Painters ren-
dered them as half human and half fish in shape ; but poets
described them as beings of purely human form, giving their
number very differently.
Proteus was a son of Okeanos and Tethys, whose pro-
per dwelling-place was the depths of the sea, which he only
left for the purpose of taking the sea-calves of Poseidon to
graze on the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. Being an
aged man, he was looked on as possessed of prophetic power
and the secrets of witchcraft, though he would not be persuaded
to exercise the former except by deceit or under threat of vio-
lence. Even then he made every effort to evade his questioners,
changing himself into a great variety of shapes, such as those
of a lion, panther, swine or serpent, and, as a last resource,
into the form of fire or water. This faculty of transformation,
which both Proteus and Thetis possessed, corresponds with
the great changeability in the appearance of the sea.
NEREUS AND THE NEREIDES,
Or Dorides, as they were sometimes called, are frequently
confounded in mythology with Okeanos and his daughters,
the Okeanids, all of them being marine deities of a lower
order.
Nereus was looked on as an ancient sea-god, a son of
Pontos and Gaea, who, when the dominion of the sea fell to
Poseidon, obtained a position under him, and along with it the
power of prophecy. With Doris, his wife, he had as off*spring
fifty, or, according to other accounts, a hundred daughters,
NEREUS AND THE NEREIDES. 147
called Nereides or Dorides, of whom Amphitrite and
Thetis, and next to them Panope and Galatea, were the
most famous, the first mentioned having become the wife of
Poseidon, while even Zeus desired to marry the second. But
the Fates having announced that from this marriage would
issue a son who would surpass his father in might, Zeus re-
linquished his wish, and gave Thetis in marriage to Peleus,
to whom she bore Achilles, and thereafter returned to live
among her sisters of the sea.
Nereus is represented in works of art as an old man with
a look of dignity, his daughters as sweet, beautiful maidens.
Poets described them as modest nymphs dwelling in a splendid
cave at the bottom of the sea, now riding on dolphins or other
creatures of the deep, now swimming, sporting, splashing about
in troops on the sea, sometimes accompanying the sea-born
Aphrodite, or playing in the warm sunshine on the shores
of bays and at rivers' mouths, drying their wet tresses. In such
places they were duly worshipped. To the pious feeling of
the Greeks the whole of nature appeared in some way divine,
and was accordingly viewed with reverence and sanctity. In
this spirit the phenomena of the sea were viewed under the
form of divine personifications called Nereides, the peaceful
shimmering light upon its gently moving bosom being repre-
sented by Galene and Glauke, the play of fantastic waves
by Thoe and Halie, the impetuous rush of billows on island
shores by Nesaie and Aktsee, the fascination of the gaily
rising tide by Pasithea, Erato, and Euneike, the swell
and impulse of mighty waves by Pherusa and Dynamene,
who all followed in the train of Amphitrite.
It may be that these myths gave rise to the modern legends
of mermaids.
148 INFERIOR DEITIES.
TRITON AND THE TRITONS.
(plate XX.)
Triton, sometimes said to be a son of Poseidon and Am-
phitrite, sometimes of Okeanos and Tethys, was a marine
deity of a lower order, and the herald of Neptune, in which
capacity he was represented using a long twisted shell as a
horn to blow a loud blast from when the sea was to be
agitated with storms, and a gentle note when a storm was to
be hushed into rest. When Neptune travelled on the waves,
it was Triton who announced his approach, and summoned
the other marine deities. The Tritons were like him in figure,
and had similar duties to perform. Occasionally we find him
described in stories as a monster who, by his wantonness and
voracity, rendered the sea-shore dangerous, and was in con-
sequence attacked by Dionysos and Herakles.
In the war with the Giants he rendered considerable service
to Zeus, by raising such a frightful din with his shrill trumpet,
that the Giants, fearing the approach of some powerful mon-
ster, or some fresh danger, retired.
Triton and the Tritons were represented in works of art as
beings of human form down to the hips, covered with small
scales, holding a sea-shell in their hands, the lower part of them
formed by the body and tail of a dolphin. Triton was also
described as driving on the sea in a chariot drawn by horses.
Plate XX. represents a family group of Tritons with a
dolphin in the background.
In the early myths concerning Triton, he appears as the per-
sonification of the roaring sea, and, like Neptune and Amphi-
trite, lived in a golden palace in the depths of the ocean.
Siren.
Tritons.
LEUKOTHEA. THE SIRENS. I49
LEUKOTHEA
Was regarded by sailors and those who travelled on the sea as
their special and friendly goddess, a character which she dis-
played in her timely assistance of Odysseus in his dangerous
voyage. She is said to have been a daughter of Kadmos,
the great-grandson of Poseidon. Originally the wife of
Athamas, in which capacity she bore the name of Ino, she
had incurred the wrath of Hera, because she had suckled the
infant Bakchos, a son of her sister Semele and of Zeus, and
for this was pursued by her raving husband, and thrown, along
with her youngest son, Melikertes, into the sea, from which
both mother and child were saved by a dolphin or by Nerei-
des. From that time she took her place as a marine deity,
and, under the name of Leukothea, was known as the pro-
tector of all travellers by sea, while her son came to be wor-
shipped as god of harbours, under the name of Palaemon.
Her worship, especially at Corinth, the oldest maritime town
of importance in Greece, and in the islands of Rhodes, Tene-
dos, and Crete, as well as in the coast towns generally, was
traced back to a high antiquity.
THE SIRENS,
(plate XX.)
According to one version of the myth, were daughters of the
river-god Acheloos (hence their other name, Acheloides)
and a Muse. According to another version, they were
daughters of Phorkys. In either case they had been nymphs
and playmates of Persephone, and for not protecting her
when she was carried off by Pluto were transformed by Deme-
150 INFERIOR DEITIES.
ter into beings half woman and half bird at first, and latterly
with the lower part of the body in the shape of a fish, so that
they had some resemblance to marine deities such as the Tri-
tons.
Plate XX. represents a Siren, half bird and half woman
in form, playing on a double flute.
In the Homeric poems their number is not specified. In
later times the names of three of them are commonly given :
Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leukosia. It is said that once,
during the time when the greater part of their body was that
of a bird, they challenged the Muses to a competition in
singing, but failed, and were punished by having the prin-
cipal feathers of their wings plucked by the Muses, who
decked themselves with them.
The common belief was that the Sirens inhabited the cliffs
of the islands lying between Sicily and Italy, and that the
sweetness of their voices bewitched passing mariners, compell-
ing them to land only to meet their death. Skeletons lay
thickly strewn around their dwelling ; for they had obtained
the right to exercise this cruel power of theirs on men so long
as no crew succeeded in defying their charms. This the Ar-
gonauts, of whom more will be said hereafter, were the first
to accomplish, by keeping their attention fixed on the unsur-
passably sweet music of their companion, Orpheus. The
next who passed safely was Odysseus. He had taken the
precaution, on approaching, to stop the ears of his crew, so
that they might be deaf to the bewitching music, and to have
himself firmly bound to the mast, so that, while hearing the
music, he would not be able to follow its allurements. In this
way the power of the Sirens came to an end, and in despair
they cast themselves into the sea, and were changed into cliffs.
THE RIVER-GODS. NYMPHS. 15I
This transformation helps to explain the signification of the
myth of the Sirens, who were i)robably personifications of
liidden banks and sliallows, where the sea is smooth and invit-
ing to the sailor, but proves in the end the destruction of his
shij). The alluring music ascribed to them may either refer to
the soft melodious murmur of waves, or be simply a figurative
expression for allurement.
THE RIVER-GODS
Were as a rule looked upon as sons of Okeanos, exercising a
dominion over individual rivers. They were represented as
bearded men, crowned with sedge, and often with horns on
their heads, reclining and resting one hand on a rudder, the
other on a vase, out of which water flows, to indicate the con-
stant flow of a river.
The names of many of them have been handed down in an-
cient myths, the most important being Alpheios, Acheloos,
Peneis, Asopos, Kephissos. Of Alpheios, it is said that
he loved Arethusa, one of the myths in the train of Arte-
mis, and so persistently followed her, though his affections
were not returned, that Artemis interfered, and changed the
nymph, to avoid his pursuit, into a fountain, the waters of
which, notwithstanding, were said to join those of Alpheios.
NYMPHS.
(plate XXI.)
The restless and fertile imagination of the ancients peopled
with beings of a higher order than themselves every mountain,
valley, plain, and forest, every thicket, bush, and tree, every
152 INFERIOR DEITIES.
fountain, stream, and lake. These beings, in wliose existence
Ixjtli (ireeks and Romans firmly Ixjlievcd, were called
Nymphs, and resembled in many respects the mermaids and
fairies of modern suixjrstition.
Generally speaking, the Nymphs were a kind of middle
beings between the gods and men, communicating with both,
loved and respected by both; gifted with the i)ower of making
themselves visible or invisible at pleasure; able to do many
things only i)ermitted to be done by the gods; living like the
gods, on ambrosia; leading a cheerful happy life of long
duration, and retaining strength and youthfulness to the last,
but not destined to immortality, like the gods. In extraordi-
nary cases they were summoned, it was believed, to the coun-
cils of the (Jlympian gods, but usually remained in their
particular spheres, in secluded grottoes and peaceful valleys,
occupied in spinning, weaving, bathing, singing sweet songs,
dancing, sj)orting, or accompanying deities who passed through
their territories, hunting with Artemis (Diana), rushing
a])ont willi Dionysos (Bacchus) making merry with Apollo
or Hermes (Mercury), but always in a hostile attitude to-
wards the wanton and excited Satyrs.
Even the earliest of the ancient myths abound with accounts
of the various things done by nymphs, while poetic fancy in
later times delighted to play with such creations. The Greeks,
the great mass of them at any rate, believed firmly in the exist-
ence of a vast niuTiber of nymphs, and attested their ])elief by
erecting frecpiently very costly altars in i)la(es wliere the pres-
ence and influence of these beings were felt, — as by fountains,
or in moist meadows, in woods, and on hills. Grottoes and
caves where water dripped or flowed, and where the bees
hummed, were sacred to them. Sanctuaries, called Nym-
NYMPHS. 153
phaea, were also crecteil for their si)e(ial honour in well
watered valleys, caves, and even in towns. Those in towns
being particularly splendid in appearance, and commonly em-
ployed for the ceremonies of marriage. The sacrifices pre-
sented to them ( onsisted of goats, lambs, milk, and oil, wine
being forbidden.
As to the origin of the Nymphs, the stories are so many
and so different that they cann(H be all given here. Very many
of these beings, it would seem, were the offs[)ring of Zeus and
Thetis. Separating them in the most convenient manner,
according to their local habitaticjns or repented origin, we have
the following classes: —
1. Dryads, or Hamadryads, also called Alseids,
nymphs of woods and trees, inhabiting groves, ravines, and
wooded valleys, fond of making merry with Apollo, Hermes
(Mercury), and Pan, and very attractive to the Satyrs.
Sometimes they appeared as rustic huntresses or shepherdesses.
2. Oreads, or mountain-nymphs, sometimes also named
after the i)articular mountains which they haunted, as Peliads
(from Pelion), Idaian (from Idaj, Kithixironian (from Kithai-
ron), etc.
3. Limoniads, or Leimoniads, nymplis of meadows and
flowers.
4. Napaeae, or Auloniads, nymi)hs of the mountain vales
in which herds grazed. The last three families of nymphs
were usually found in the company of Pan, rushing gaily and
merrily over hills and valleys, through woods and meadows.
A favourite and lovely nymph of the vales was Eurydike,
who, being bitten by a snake, and dying in c()nse(iuence, w:i,s
mourned by all her sisters, and sung by Orpheus in most
touching melancholy strains.
154 INFERIOR DEITIES.
5. Okeanids, daughters of Okeanos, nymphs of fountains
and streams, and named according to the characteristics of
streams, — as Prymno, "like a cascade which falls over an
abrupt height" ; Hippo, "like a swift current" ; Plexaure,
"like a dashing brook"; Galaxaure, "like the refreshing
coolness of a shady stream" ; Kalypso, "like the hidden
tide"; Rhodeia, " flowing among rose-trees" ; Kallirrhoe,
"like a beautiful stream"; Melolosis, "like a river that
waters the meadows" ; Telesto, "nymph of the cool springs,"
which the Greeks piously used for cleansing and purification.
6. Nereids, daughters of Nereus, sometimes also called
Dorids, after their mother (see Nereus).
7. Naiads, — generally speaking, nymphs of the liquid
element, daughters of Zeus. They were styled "fostering"
nymphs, and for this reason were commonly found in the
company of Zeus, Poseidon, and Dionysos, as well as of
Demeter, Persephone, and Aphrodite, and besides were
looked on as deities of marriage and sacred rites.
8. Potamids, nymphs of the rivers.
9. Limnads, nymphs of lakes, marshes, and swamps, most
dangerous beings, who allured and misled travellers by their
songs or mimic screams for help.
10. Pleiads, seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, sis-
ters of the Hyads.
11. Atlantids, offspring of Atlas, and belonging to the
same order as the last mentioned.
12. Hyads, according to the myth, daughters of Atlas and
^thra; sisters, or, according to other versions, daughters
of Hyas. Languishing of grief at the death of Hyas, which
was caused by a wild animal, they were changed into stars,
being the seven stars which form the head in the constellation
ECHO: NARKISSOS. 1 55
of the Bull (Taurus). Their ascension takes place from the
17th to the 2ist of May, and usually indicates rain, for which
reason they were often called the rainy stars. They were also
called Dodonids, and described as the nurses of Zeus of
Dodona. One of them was called Thyene.
All the most prominent of the nymphs had names of their
own.
They were represented as damsels of wonderful beauty, with
attributes suitable to their respective avocations.
Plate XXI. represents three of them tending Pegasos at
a fountain- All three have their hair bound with sedge ; two
of them have vases.
ECHO: NARKISSOS.
Echo was a mountain-nymph, and at the same time a servant
of Hera, according to one account, but had to be kept at a
distance on account of her talkativeness. In other accounts
she is described as a beautiful nymph whom the forest-god
Pan loved. Happening to meet the beautiful Narkissos,
a son of the river-god Kephissos, she conceived a very
tender passion for him, which he unfortunately did not return.
Echo grieved in consequence, and pined away day by day till
at length her voice was all that was left of her. She then took
to the mountains and woods which Pan frequented, and
occupied herself in mimicking every vocal sound she heard.
Narkissos was a personification of the consequences of
self-conceit in the matter of personal appearance, his vanity
being such that he used to idle by the brinks of clear fountains,
and gaze upon the reflection of his own face, till at last he
languished in his unreturned love for it. Other stories affirm
156 INFERIOR DEITIES.
that he was punished for this conduct by the gods, by being
changed into the flower which still bears his name.
THE HESPERIDES
Were daughters of Atlas, an enormous giant, who, as the
ancients believed, stood upon the western confines of the earth,
and supported the heavens on his shoulders. Their mother
was Hesperis, a personification of the ^' region of the West,"
where the sun continued to shine after he had set on Greece,
and where, as travellers told, was an abundance of choice
delicious fruits, which could only have been produced by a
special divine influence. The Gardens of the Hesperides
with the golden apples were believed to exist in some island
in the ocean, or, as it was sometimes thought, in the islands
on the north or west coast of Africa. They were far-famed in
antiquity ; for it was there that springs of nectar flowed by
the couch of Zeus, and there that the earth displayed the
rarest blessings of the gods : it was another Eden. As know-
ledge increased with regard to western lands, it became
necessary to move this paradise farther and farther out into
the Western Ocean.
As to the origin of these precious golden apples, there is a
myth which says that among the deities who attended the mar-
riage ceremony of Zeus and Hera, bringing various presents
with them, was Titsea, a goddess of the earth, whose gift con-
sisted in her causing a tree to spring up with golden apples on it.
The care of this tree, which highly pleased the newly-wedded
pair, was entrusted to the Hesperides. But, as they could not
resist the temptation to pluck and eat its fruit, it became
necessary to place the serpent Ladon to watch it. Herakles,
THE MUSES. 157
among his other adventures, slew this serpent and carried off
some of the apples, which, however, were afterwards returned
to the Hesperides, through the kindness of Athene.
The common account speaks of only three Hesperides, —
JEg\G, Erytheis and Hespere. Arethusa was afterwards
added, and in time three more, so that they were seven in all.
THE MUSES,
Or Pierides, as they were also styled, were regarded as nymphs
of the springs that bickered down the sides of Mount Helikon
and Mount Parnassos, called Kastalia, Aganippe, and
Pimpla or Pimplea, the waters of which were thought to have
the property of inspiration. Their origin was traced to Zeus
and the Titanic nymph Mnemosyne, the name of Pierides
being applied to them from Pieria, on Mount Olympos,
the reputed place of their birth, a locality which appears to
have been originally the principal centre of their worship,
whence it spread first and most conspicuously to Mount Heli-
kon, in Boeotia, and farther to Athens, Sparta, Troezene, and
elsewhere. It was usual to ascribe this extension of the worship
of the Muses to a Thracian named Pieros, of whom it was also
said that, having nine daughters, he named them each after one
of the Muses, and challenged the latter to a competition in
music, the upshot of which was that his daughters lost the
award, and were, as a punishment for their daring, transformed
into singing-birds. The worship of the Muses on Mount
Helikon was celebrated in a grove, in which were the sacred
fountains of Aganippe and Hippokrene,with many monu-
ments of art dedicated to the Muses, contests called Museia
being associated with the ceremonies.
158 INFERIOR DEITIES.
The nine Muses whom we are accustomed to read of in the
Greek and Roman mythology, were looked upon as the patron
goddesses of music and song, of poetry, and of the fine arts
generally, that tended to promote the civilization of mankind.
Their local habitation was on the summits of Mounts Helikon,
Parnassos, and Pindos. They would, however, frequently
visit Olympos, to gladden the blessed existence of the gods
there by the exercise of their arts, especially by music and the
recital of songs, the burden of which was probably, as on most
other occasions, the glory and omnipotence of Zeus. Some^
times they would lend their presence also to enliven happy
incidents in the lives of favourite mortals — such, for example,
as the marriage of Kadmos and Harmonia, or that of Peleus
and Thetis ; and sometimes even at moments of great sorrow,
as at the death of Achilles, they would descend to mourn in
strains which drew forth tears from gods and men. Their
leader was Apollo, who in that capacity bore the title of Mu-
sagetes. But though generally associated with Apollo, and
probably therefore .imbued with the form of ir^spiration pecu-
liar to the god of oracles, they are also found to have been
connected with the worship of Dionysos, whose inspiration
is known to have been of a wild and excited nature. As nymphs
of the sacred streams on the mountains where they lived, their
music and song must, for the sake of harmony, have repeated
the rushing movement of water, and it may be to this that
their association with Dionysos is due.
In addition to the usual nine we hear of three other Muses,
Melete, Mneme, and Aoedte, who are described as daugh-
ters of Uranos, and supposed to have existed from the earliest
times. As, however, both Homer and Hesiod appear to know
only the number nine, we may assume that the belief in the
XXll.
Klio.
Melpomene.
Thalia.
THE MUSES. 159
existence of the other three must have originated in the specu-
lations of comparatively later times.
In works of art of the earlier period the Muses were always
represented together in company, all wearing the same kind
of dress, and all provided with attributes in the forms of musi-
cal instruments — such as the lyre, harp, and flute, or with
rolls of manuscript. The custom of collecting in such rolls
literary v/orks produced under the auspices of the Muses was
the first foundation of libraries and museums, such as they
exist in modern times, and thus the word "museum" carries
us back to the early worship of the Muses, and to the early
civilization so far as it was due to their inspiration.
The nine Muses were represented according to their various
avocations in the following manner: —
1. Klio (Plate XXII.), the muse of History, seated wearing
a wreath of laurel, and holding out a half-open inscribed
parchment roll ', beside her a cylindrical box, containing more
of these manuscripts. In other cases she appears standing,
holding a roll of manuscript in one hand, an instrument for
WTiting with in the other.
2. Melpomene, (Plate XXII.), the muse of Tragedy, a
serious, dignified figure, standing with her left foot raised on
a rock, holding in her right hand a mask, such as was worn
by tragedians, and in her left apparently a small roll of a part
in a play; her long robe or tunic is girt under her breast, and
falls in wide folds ; from her shoulder a mantle or peplos falls
carelessly. In other cases she wears a diadem or a wreath of
cypress, and holds a short sword or a club in her hand.
3. Thalia (Plate XXII.), the muse of Comedy and Bur-
lesque, standing, clad in a robe or tunic, over which is a
mantle, with a fringe, thrown over the left shoulder, and
l6o INFERIOR DEITIES.
wrapped round the legs, leaving the right arm free; in her
right hand a shepherd's crook, in the other a mask, such as
was worn by actors in the Satyric plays.
4. Kalliope (Plate XXIII.), the muse of Heroic Poems,
and looked on as the chief of the Muses, on which account
she sometimes appears as their representative; seated, holding
a writing tablet and a stylus. In other cases she is standing,
crowned with a wreath, and holding a manuscript roll in her
hand, or a pipe {tuba) round which a branch of laurel is twined.
5. Urania (Plate XXIV.), the muse of Astronomy, seated
beside a globe, holding a pair of compasses in one hand,
while with the other she points upwards towards the heavens.
In other cases she wears a crown of stars, and holds a lyre,
her eyes turned towards the stars, and pointing out at the same
time something on a globe beside her.
6. Euterpe (Plate XXIV.), the muse of the art of Music,
the "giver of pleasure," as her name implies, standing, play-
ing on a double flute. In other cases she plays on other
instruments.
7. Polyhymnia, or Polymnia (Plate XXIV.), the muse
of Song and of Oratory, her name signifying '' rich in song,"
was also described as the inventor of myths, on which account
she was represented in the attitude of contemplation, with one
fifiger raised to her lips ; on her head a laurel wreath. In
other cases she appears in a quiet, attentive, observant mood,
leaning forward on a pillar, her arms concealed under her
drapery, and wearing at times a veil, to indicate the hidden
truths within the myths, while her posture was intended to
indicate the process of revolving the meaning of them. For
this reason she was also viewed as the goddess of serious and
sacred poems and hymns.
XXIV.
Urania.
Euterpe.
Polyliyinnia.
XXllI.
Mother of the Muses.
Kalliope.
XXV.
Erato.
Terpsichore.
Horae.
THE MUSES. l6l
8. Erato (Plate XXV.), the muse of Love and Marriage
Songs, wearing a wreath, and playing on a large lyre with
mony strings. In other cases she appears holding a lyre by
her side in one hand, and in the other an arrow or a wreath
of myrtle and roses.
9. Terpsichore (Plate XXV.), the muse of Dancing,
wearing a wreath, and playing on a lyre. At other times she
holds cymbals, has her robe girt up, and appears in the atti-
tude of dancing.
The mother of the Muses was called, as has already been
stated, Mnemosyne, that is, " Memory," and especially the
memory or recollection of great events, such as the war with
the Titans, that was said to have occurred at the commence-
ment of the world's history, and must continue to occur until
the universe is brought into perfect harmony. In later times
she caitie to be viewed merely as goddess of memory, and
worshipped along with the Muses.
Plate XXIII. represents her standing in a quiet, thoughtful
attitude, both arms under her drapery, to indicate the silent
mysterious action of memory.
It was the custom of the muses to play, under the leader-
ship of Apollo, at the banquets and marriage ceremonies
among the gods, while the Horae, Charites (Graces), Aphro-
dite, and other deities given to mirth and gaiety, danced. In
this fashion the ancients represented under the form of persons
the union of joy, music, poetry, dance, and merriment.
II
1 62 INFERIOR DEITIES.
IRIS,
(plate XXVI.,)
Goddess of the rainbow, was a daughter of Thaumas and
Elektra, a grand-daughter of Okeanos and Gaea, and a
sister of the Harpies. As messenger of Hera and Zeus, she
lived among the other deities of Olympos, which she only left
for the purpose of conveying the divine commands to mankind,
by whom she was looked on as a guide and adviser. She tra-
velled with the speed of wind always, from one end of the
world to the other, could penetrate to the bottom of the sea,
or to the Styx, and in this respect formed a female counterpart
of Hermes (Mercury) in his capacity of messenger of the
gods, she holding much the same position towards Hera as he
did towards Zeus. •
It was Iris, the ancients believed, who charged the clouds
with water from lakes and rivers, in order that they might let
it fall again upon the earth in gentle fertilizing showers ; and,
accordingly, when her bow appeared in the clouds the farmer
welcomed it as a sign of rain to quicken his fields, and gladly
paid honours to the goddess whose presence he recognized in
the rainbow with its splendid colours.
She was represented as a beautiful virgin with wings of
varied hue, in robes of bright colours, and riding on a rainbow ;
at other times with a nimbus on her head, in which the colours
of the rainbow were reflected.
Plate XXVI. gives a figure of her standing, clad in a long
robe, holding in one hand a herald's staff, such as Hermes,
also carries (caduceus), and in the other a helmet.
XXVI.
^.OLOS. 163
^OLOS
Was the son of a king named Hippotes, and lived on one of
the abrupt rocky Lipara islands close to Sicily, along with his
offspring, six sons and six daughters, who were married in
pairs, and made life merry with their music. In the caves of
tlic island were imprisoned the winds, ^olos letting them out
in gales, or in a soft favouring breeze, at the will of the highei:
gods.
The idea of the winds beings thus kept in a cavern under the
restraint of a divine person, appears to have suggested itself to
the ancients from the strong draught that is felt on entering a
cave or subterraneous passage ; but whether the belief in the
existence of such a personage reached back to primitive times,
when mankind lived to a great extent in places of that kind, is
not certain. The influence of ^olos was felt both genially
and the reverse on land and on sea, but principally on sea,
which he could more readily command from the island where
he lived.
As an instance of his kindliness to travellers by sea, we may
here mention his hospitable reception of Odysseus (Ulysses)
on that errant homeward voyage of his. On departing, ^olos
gave him a great bag containing all the contrary winds, putting
it on board the ship, so that he might reach Ithaca with a fair
wind. Odysseus himself remained steadily and anxiously at
the helm for several days, but his native land coming at length
in sight, he sank overpowered with sleep. His followers ob-
serving this proceeded to indulge their curiosity to see the
costly presents which they fancied the bag contained, opened
it, and out burst the imprisoned wind with a roar and a force
that drove the ship again far out of her course.
164 INFERIOR DEITIES.
But besides this conception of the winds as mere elements in
the hands of^olos, there was another which represented them
as each personified by a separate divine being, living apart,
and being directly under the control of Zeus and Poseidon.
THE WIND GODS,
Of whom the principal were Boreas, the north wind, Euros,
the east wind, Notos, the south wind, and Zephyros, the
west wind, were, as we have previously said, the offspring of
Eos and Astrseos, the parentage of fierce destructive winds
being assigned to Typhon. According to another report,
neither the origin nor the number of the deities of the winds
was known, the prevalence in particular districts of winds
blowing from this or that point between the four chief quar-
ters, naturally giving rise to a set of personifications such as
north-west wind, south-west wind, and others.
The character and appearance ascribed to each of these
deities was, as usual in Greek mythology, such as was suggested
by the phenomena of each wind — as, for example, the strength
and fury of the north wind, or the genial warmth of the south-
west. Some were thought to be male, some female, and all
winged. Euros, who brought warmth and rain from the
east, was represented holding a vase inverted, as if pouring
rain from it. Lips, who from the south-east wafted home the
ships as they neared the harbour of Peiraeus at Athens, held
the ornament from a ship's stern in her hands. Zephyros,
coming from the warm, mild west, was lightly clad, and car-
ried a quantity of flowers in his scarf. Apeliotes, the south-
east wind, carried fruits of many kinds, wore boots, and was
EOS, OR AURORA: LUCIFER. 1 65
not so lightly clad as the last mentioned. So they were rep-
resented on the "Tower of the Winds " at Athens.
Though the winds were looked on as each under the control
of a separate divine being, whose favour it was necessary to
retain by sacrifice, no particular story or myth is told of any
one of these persons excepting Boreas and Zephyros, the rival
lovers of Chloris (Flora), Zephyros being the successful suitor.
Boreas carried off, it was said, Oreithyia, the beautiful
daughter of Kckrops, king of Attica; and remembering this,
the Athenians in their distress, when the Persians advanced
the first time against Greece, called upon him for aid, which
he rendered by sending a terrible north wind, which overtook
the Persian fleet near the promontory of Athos, scattering and
largely destroying it. From that time the Athenians had an
altar to him, and offered sacrifice at it for their preservation.
The scene of Boreas carrying off Oreithyia is represented on
a beautiful bronze relief found at Calymna, and now in the
British Museum. The wind-god is powerful in form, bearded,
but still young, and wearing thick high boots, and a mantle
thrown across his body.
EOS, OR AURORA : LUCIFER.
Eos was a daughter of the Titan pair, Theia and Hyperion ;
the latter, to judge from the meaning of his name, having been
at one time god of the sun, "who travels high above earth."
Helios and Selene, the deities of sun and moon, were her
brother and sister, while she herself was a personification of
the dawn of morning. A fresh wind was felt at her approach,
the morning star still lingered in the sky, and ruddy beams
"shot the orient through with gold"; and because these
l66 INFERIOR DEITIES.
beams appeared like outspread fingers, she was called "rosy-
fingered Morn." The star and the winds of the morning,
Zephyros, Boreas, Notos, and Euros, were her offspring
by Astrseos, the god of starlight. The moon and the other
stars vanished gradually as she advanced, but Helios followed
her closely. To poets she seemed to lift the veil of night with
rose-tinted fingers, and to rise in the east out of the ocean in
a car with four white steeds, shedding light upon the earth.
Others imagined her coming riding on the winged horse, Pe-
gasos, which Zeus had given her after Bellerophon's failure
to ride on it up to Olympos.
She loved all fresh young life, and showed special favour to
those persons whose active spirit led them abroad in the
morning to hunt or to make war. When struck with the
beauty of a youth she would carry him off, and obtain immor-
tal life for him, as she did with Kleitos, Orion, Kephalos,
and Tithonos. So it appeared to the Greeks, who recognised
in the brief duration of the freshness and glow of morning a
comparison with the early death of promising and beautiful
youth, and from the comparison proceeded to construct a
myth which should trace both to the same divine cause.
Tithonos became her husband, and she lived with him
pleasantly beside the Okeanos so long as his youth and beauty
lasted. Unfortunately, in obtaining immortality for him from
Zeus, she had omitted to add to her request, '^and eternal
youth." When white hairs showed themselves on his head
she was not the same to him as before, though still supplying
him with ambrosia and fine raiment. But he became quite
helpless at last, and, to avoid the sight of his decrepitude, she
shut him up in a chamber, where only his voice was heard like
the chirp of a grasshopper, into which creature, it was said,
XXVI I.
EOS, OR AURORA: LUCIFER. 167
he became transformed. By the story of Tithonos we would
understand day, in its eternally returning course, fresh and
beautiful at dawn, wearied and worn at the close.
Of Kephalos it is said that from love to his wife, Prokris,
he resolutely withstood the advances of Aura, the goddess
of the morning wind, and that the latter in revenge stirred up
discord between him and his wife. Another version of the
story is, that Aura caused him to kill his wife by mistake when
out on the chase. Prokris, it would seem, jealous of her hus-
band's meetings with the goddess, had secreted herself in a
thicket to watch them ; but happening to stir, Kephalos caught
the noise, and suspecting it to be caused by some lurking
animal, hurled his spear, and slew his wife.
Eos and Tithonos had two sons, Memnon and Emathion,
the former widely celebrated for his beauty, and mourned for
his early death at the hands of Achilles. His dead body was
carried by his weeping mother to Ethiopia; and at Thebes,
in Egypt, she erected in his memory, so story goes, that
wonderful monument which, when the first rays of the morn-
ing sun touched it, gave forth a sound like the snapping
of a harp-string. ,
In art she was represented as a spirited maiden, with large
wings, clad in robes of dazzling white and purple, a star or
cap on her head, a torch in her hand, and driving in a chariot
with four horses, or riding on Pegasos; at other times she
appeared floating in the air, and pouring morning dew from a
vessel down to the earth.
In Plate XXVII. she is figured driving a quadriga with great
speed, as is indicated by the flow of her drapery. The bulls'
heads signify that the moon and stars are still in the sky.
Lucifer precedes her with a torch. Flowers and plants, quick-
1 68 INFERIOR DEITIES.
ened by her dew, wake and raise their heads. In the British
Museum is a beautiful example of early gem engraving, repre-
senting a head of her.
In other representations we find Hermes advancing before
her, a duty which Lucifer, the morning star, and a favourite
of Aphrodite and Hera also, most usually ^xirforms.
EROS, OR AMOR: PSYCHE.
Amor, or Cupido, as he was also called, was not, it should
be noticed, a native Roman deity, but had been introduced
from the mythology of the Greeks by poets, his name being
a direct translation of the Greek Eros. It should further be
observed that this translation presents an instance of the
difference in character of these two ancient races ; the word
for ^'love" among the Greeks being feminine, while its
Roman equivalent was masculine.
We must at the outset distinguish the double character of
Erosj first, as we find him described taking part at the crea-
tion of the world out of Chaos, and secondly, as a mere god
of love, a son of Aphrodite and Zeus, or Ares, as some
said, or even of Uranos. In the former phase of his charac-
ter he is represented as sorting the shapeless mass of the world,
with its conflicting elements, into order and harmony, dis-
pelling confusion, uniting hitherto jarring forces, and making
productive what was barren before. In the latter phase he is
the deity who sways the passions of the heart both of gods and
men. In the one case he was conceived as having existed
before the other gods, as being the god of that love which
operates in nature; and in the other case as the youngest born
of them all, the god of that love which holds the hearts
A Will
.*^
^&sj
^^■"
^^'C^^Jfi^'^-^
Cupid.
Cupid and Psyche.
Ganymedes.
Mars and Venus.
EROS, OR amor: psyche. 169
of men in tyranny. It seems to have been as a combination
of both characters that Pheidias* represented him at the birth
of Aphrodite, receiving her as she rose out of the sea, in
presence of the assembled deities of Olympos.
The chief and oldest centre of his worship was Thespiae, in
Boeotia, where a festival called Erotidia was celebrated in his
honour, and continued to be a source of attraction down to
Roman times. Thence his worship spread to Sparta, Athens,
Samos, and Crete, the Spartans and Cretans having a custom
of sacrificing to him previous to the commencement of a bat-
tle, in the belief that he was also the god of that patriotism or
love of country which best unites an army. In Athens there
was an altar to him and his counterpart, Anteros.
In early times his worshippers at Thespiae were content with
a rude stone as an image. But in later times, and in contrast
with this, we find him the most attractive figure among the
works of the second Attic school of sculptors, the school of
Scopas and Praxiteles, f both of whom directed their splendid
talents to adding fresh grace and beauty to his form. While
artists rivalled each other to this end, poets were no less zeal-
ous in singing his praises. In daily life his influence became
more generally acknowledged. In the gymnasia where the
youth practised athletics his statue was set up between Hermes
and Herakles ; for he was then represented as lithe of limb
and graceful of form — a model of ripening youth. As time
went on, however, his figure became more and more that of
the chubby boy who plays all manner of tricks with the hearts
of men, with which we are most familiar. He was supposed
* On the base of the statue of Zeus at Olympia.
t The famous statue of him by Praxiteles was afterwards carried off to
Rome, and is known to us through copies of it made by other sculptors.
lyo INFERIOR DEITIES.
to exercise his influence over the hearts of deities as well ; and
to show him in this light, he was represented at times now with
the symbol of one god, now of another.
To the later age of Hellenistic and Roman poetry and art
belongs the touching story of Psyche — a personification,
as she appears to have been, of a soul filled with the passion of
love, and as such conceived under the form of a small winged
maiden, or, at other times, as a butterfly which bore the same
name. Psyche, the story runs, was a king's daughter, and most
beautiful. The fame of her beauty awoke the jealousy of
Aphrodite, who to get rid of the rival, charged her son Cupid
to visit the prin.cess, and inspire her with love for some com-
mon man. Cupid obeyed so far as to pay the visit, but being
himself struck with the maiden's beauty, carried her ofl" to a
fairy palace in a vale of paradise, where they spent happy
hours together, with only this drawback, that she was not per-
mitted to look upon her lover with her mortal eyes. Even this
she would not have considered a drawback, had not her en-
vious sisters stirred up her curiosity in the matter. Yielding
to their temptation, she took one night a lamp, and stole into
the chamber where the god lay asleep. Alarmed at the dis-
covery she had made, she let a drop of hot oil fall upon his
shoulder. He awoke, and charging her with disobedience to his
express command, left her alone to her despair. She searched
for him everywhere in vain, finding her way at last to the
palace of Aphrodite, who after subjecting her to menial service
of various kinds, finally ordered her to go down to the lower
world, and fetch a box of beauty's ointment from Persephone.
This most painful task she accomplished ; but, on opening the
box, sank overpowered by its odour. Cupid could resist no
longer, ran to her help, and brought her back to life. The
EROS, OR amor: psyche. 171
anger of Aphrodite was appeased, and the marriage of Cupid
and Psyche was forthwith celebrated with great rejoicings, in
presence of the higher gods, Psyche obtaining immortality.
The purpose of the story is obviously to illustrate the three
stages in the existence of a soul, — its pre-existence in a blessed
btate, its existence on earth with its trials and anguish, and its
future state of happy immortality.
Plate XXVIII. represents the two embracing tenderly.
Eros has laid aside his bow and quiver, with its dangerous
arrows ; roses are strewn on the ground before them, and a
shoot of a rose-tree grows behind to symbolize the sweetness
and beauty of young love. Psyche has the wings of a butterfly,
and links by which she may be chained on her ankles and
arms. Behind her is a mirror. In the other figure Eros ap-
pears riding on a lion, and playing on a lyre, the soft music of
which soothes the savage beast, as love was supposed to
soothe the fiercest temper.
In works of art he is frequently to be seen in company of
his mother Aphrodite, or playing with the Muses and Graces,
or struggling with his opposite Anteros, or accompanied by
Pothos, whose name, like the Roman Cupido, signifies a
''desire of love," that is, a ''desire of union in love," and
Himeros, a "soft yearning for love." In later times artists
often surrounded Aphrodite, and occasionally also Dionysos,
with troops of little winged figures of children, which we call
Erotes or Amorettes.
The word Psyche, signifying originally the "soul," came
afterwards to mean also a "butterfly," — a likeness being ob-
served between the manner in wliich a soul and a butterfl}-,
freed from the body or chrysalis in which they have been con-
fined on earth, rise on wing, and waft themselves in the light.
172 INFERIOR DEITIES.
The flame of love which often scorched the soul was compared
with the torch which attracts the butterfly to its doom. When
this happened, Eros turned away his face and wept. Such is
the meaning of the allegory represented in Plate XXIX. Be-
hind Eros stands Nemesis, holding a twig from an apple-
tree, her customary attribute, and before him Elpis, or Hope,
holding a lily.
HYMEN OR HYMEN^US,
(plate XXVI.,)
Was worshipped as the god of marriage both by the Greeks and
the Romans. His origin is variously stated to have been now
from Apollo and Kalliope, now from Dionysos and Aphrodite,
while at other times he is said to have been by birth a mortal,
and afterwards deified. Properly speaking, he is a personifi-
cation of the marriage song. There are various accounts of
his life and deification, and among them the following :
Young, and of a soft delicate beauty, so that he might be
mistaken for a girl. Hymen loved a young Athenian maiden,
whom, however, because of his poverty, he could not hope to
obtain for his wife. To be near her, he once joined a troop of
maidens, among whom she was engaged in celebrating a festival
to Demeter at Eleusis. Suddenly a band of robbers appeared
from a hiding-place, carried the maidens off to their ship, and
set out with the intention of selling them as slaves in some
distant country. But landing on the way on a dreary island,
the robbers indulged so copiously in wine that they all fell into
deep slumber. Hymen, seizing the opportunity, incited his
fellow-captives to take the weapons from the robbers and slay
THE GRACES. I 73
them all, which they did. Thereupon he set off to Athens in
the ship, and finding the people there in great distress, presented
himself to the parents of the maiden he loved, and undertook
to bring her back unharmed on condition of their giving her
to him as his wife. This was readily promised. Finding a
crew, he at once set sail for the island, and speedily returned
with all the maidens on board. For this he obtained the title
of Thalassios, as well as the wife that had been promised him.
So happy was his wedded life that at marriage ceremonies
generally his name was on the lips of all the company, and he
himself in course of time came to be looked on as a god, and
the founder and protector of marriage rights. At bridal fes-
tivities a sacrifice was offered to him, festal songs were sung,
and flowers and wreaths strewn.
As a deity he was placed among the playmates of Eros, and
in the company of Aphrodite. His home, it was believed,
was among the Muses on Mount Helikon in Boeotia. There
is a story which says that he lost his voice and his life in
singing the marriage song of Dionysos and Ariadne or Althcea.
He is always a picture of youthful beauty, and of the charms
of love and song.
Hymen was represented as a beautiful youth with a mantle
of a golden colour — sometimes nude — and carrying a torch, as
in Plate XXV., or a veil.
THE CHARITES, or GRACES,
Were looked upon by the Greeks as the goddesses of the grace-
fulness and the charms of beauty, and of cheerful amusement,
which were observed both in nature and in the intercourse
with men. As such, their worship dated from a very early time
174 INFERIOR DEITIES.
in Orchomenos in Boeotia, in Sparta, Athens, and Crete ; the
games held in their honour in the last-mentioned place being
said to have existed even in the time of the pre-historic king
Minos. Their oldest sanctuary was said to be that at Orcho-
menos. It contained images of them in the form of rude
stones which were supposed to have fallen from heaven.
The manifold beauty which the works of nature, especially
in spring-time, display, would seem to have given rise in very
early times to a belief in the existence of certain goddesses^t
first simply as guardians of the vernal sweetness and beauty
of nature, and afterwards as the friends and protectors of
everything graceful and beautiful — an idea which the poets
further developed. Pindar, in one of his most delightful
songs of victory, singing of the Graces, associates with them
the source of decorum, of purity and happiness in life, of good
will, beneficence and gratitude among men.
They were represented as beautiful young modest maidens,
winning and charming, always dancing, singing, and running,
or bathing in fountains, or decking themselves with early flow-
ers, especially with roses ; for the rose was sacred to them, as
well as to Aphrodite (Venus), in whose company, and doing
her many a service, according to the myth, they were usually
to be found. Their home was among the Muses in the
neighbourhood of Olympos, where they often appeared as com-
panions of Aphrodite, and danced before the other deities.
Their origin is variously stated, — now Zeus and Eurynome,
an Okeanid, being assigned as their parents, now Dionysos
and Aphrodite. There is a difference also in the statements of
their names and number. From Orchomenos, it would seem,
come Aglsea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. In Sparta and in
Athens there were only two, the pair worshipped in the former
THE GRACES. 1 75
town being called Kleta (clang) and Phaenna (glimmer),
in the latter town, Auxo and Hegemone. In the Iliad a
whole race of them is mentioned, old and young — the youngest
being Pasithea. According to another account, the youngest
was Agl?ea, the wife of Hephoestos ; the object in assigning
him such a wife being probably to indicate the perfect beauty
of the works of art produced by that god. Beauty and sweet-
ness, the best charm of poetry, came from the Graces. Athene
(Minerva) called in their aid in the serious business of life
over which she presided, because without gracefulness all
labour was in vain, the Greeks believed. They assisted
Hermes (Mercury) in his capacity of god of oratory. From
these instances of their activity it will be seen how highly the
Greeks prized this quality of gracefulness.
In Greece there was a number of temples and beautiful
groups of statuary in their honour, sometimes devoted to them
alone, sometimes to them in common with other deities ; as,
for example. Aphrodite, Apollo, and the Ma^es. Annual
festivals, called Charitesia, accompanied with games, music,
and dance, were held in their honour. It was the custom also
to call upon them in taking an oath, and at banquets the first
cup of wine was offered to them.
In early times they were represented in art as draped figures,
but in later times as quite nude, or but sparingly clothed, and
occupied in a dance. Their attributes were the rose, the
myrtle, and dice, as a symbol of cheerful amusement. At
other times they hold apples or perfume- vases, or ears of corn,
or heads of poppies, or musical instruments — such as the lyre,
flute^ and syrinx.
176 INFERIOR DEITIES.
PEITHO, OR SUADA,
Or Suadela, was the goddess of persuasion, and like the
Graces, formed part of the escort of Aphrodite, whose daughter
she was said to be.
Her worship, along with Aphrodite, was introduced into
Athens by Theseus, at the time when he succeeded in per-
suading the various isolated tribes inliabiting Attica to unite
into one people, with Athens as their chief town. But she
had temples in other places also, and was looked on as a deity
to whose influence much was due.
HEBE,
(plate XXVI.,)
Or Ganymeda, or Dia, as she was called in the vine-growing
district of Phlius, where she was worshipped as the principal
deity, was daughter of Zeus and Hera, and was the goddess
of youth, herself remaining always young, and warding off age,
like the other deities, by means of nectar and ambrosia. Her
name among the Romans was Juventas. In Olympos she
held the office of cup-bearer to the gods, for which it is sup-
posed that she was peculiarly adapted, first, because of her
association with the vine-growers of Phlius, and, secondly,
because she was the youngest daughter of the regal pair of
Olympos, and as such, on the analogy of human arrangements,
would be expected to wait upon the divine guests, as Briseis
did on Achilles, or Hippodameia on Oenomaos or as, in real
life, Melissa, the daughter of Prokles, king of Epidauros,
poured out wine for her father's men with a grace which cap-
HEBE. 177
tivated Pcriander. The difficulty of explaining how Hebe and
Ganymedes would both hold the same office was met in various
ways, of which one was to assume her to have been cup-bearer
in general and him cup-bearer to Zeus in particular, while
another ingeniously supposed that Hebe only held the office
while Ganymedes was absent from Olympos during the Trojan
war, so as to avoid witnessing the misfortunes of his native
country. Among her other duties she had to assist Hera to
yoke her car. When Apollo and the Muses played she danced
with otlier deities. At times she accompanied Aphrodite.
But the character in which she was best known and most ad-
mired was that of the bride and wife of Herakles, when he
was raised to Olympos in reward for his extraordinary labours
on earth. This union of Hebe, the favourite daughter of
Hera, with Herakles, whom she had constantly persecuted
while on earth, is unknown to the Iliad. The character of
the myth, however, appears to point to a very early origin.
The singular climax of events, which made Herakles the guest
of the gods of Olympos and the husband of the most attrac-
tive of the goddesses, was a subject which was made the most
of by the comic poets. Representations of the marriage pro-
cession, and of Herakles receiving a cup of wine from Hebe,
occur in ancient sculpture. In other cases she appears in the
company of her mother Hera, or alone, or in the character of
Ganymeda, fondling the eagle of Zeus, or giving it drink
from a cup, as occurs not unfrequently on engraved gems.
At the town of Phlius, in the district of Argolis, there was,
in a fine grove, a celebrated temple in her honour, which
served as a place of refuge or asylum, in which slaves who
had been set free hung up their chains among the cypresses
sacred to the goddess.
12
178 INFERIOR DEITIES.
In Rome Juventas had two sanctuaries, one on the Capitol,
the other beside the great race-course. It was the custom —
dating, it was said, as far back as the time of Servius Tullius —
to pay into the temple of Juventas a piece of money for every
boy who lived to enter the stage of youth. When the young
Roman assumed the toga vhilis, he went up to the Capitol
and prayed to Jupiter and Juventas. At the beginning of
every year sacrifice was offered to both deities in behalf of the
youth of the city.
GANYMEDES,
(plate xxviii.,)
Was a son of the Trojan king Tros and Kallirhoe, and was
therefore great-grandson of Dardanos, the founder of Troy.
Zeus finding him on Mount Ida, and admiring his beauty,
carried him off to Olympos, where he appears to have suc-
ceeded Hebe in the office of cup-bearer to the gods.
He was represented as possessed of eternal youth and
extraordinary beauty, wearing a Phrygian cap to indicate his
birth-place. The cup in his hand indicates his office of cup-
bearer, while the eagle of Zeus by his side shows that that
office was performed among the gods of Olympos.
ASKLEPIOS, OR ^SCULAPIUS,
(plate XXXI,,)
Was, according to the most common version of the myth, a
son of Apollo and Koronis, a daughter of a Thessalian prince,
• — ^whence his title Koronides. At his birth his mother died,
Struck by the arrows of Artemis; but the father saved the child.
ASKLEPIOS, OR iESCULAPIUS. 1 79
and taking it to Mount Pelion, gave it in keeping to the famous
physician, Chiron, who carefully instructed the boy from
early youth onwards in the mysteries of the healing art, train-
ing him at the same time to expertness in the chase. In the
former the pupil soon excelled the master, curing the most
malignant diseases, and working real miracles with his art.
There was but one whom his success could injure, and that was
Pluto, the monarch of the lower world, who urged his com-
plaint before Zeus. The latter, astonished at the boldness of
a mortal in thus defying the decrees of fate, felled the great
doctor with a thunderbolt, to the indignation of Apollo, who
was only silenced by banishment from Olympos for some time.
After his death Asklepios was looked upon as a god in Greece ;
festivals called Asklepia were held in his honour, and tem-
ples were erected to him, of which the most celebrated was
that of Epidauros, in the Peloponnesos. Thither even the
Romans sent ten deputies once, to inquire the will of the ora-
cle with regard to a pestilence that was raging in Rome. The
deputies had hardly entered the temple, when from behind
the gold-and-ivory statue of the god a serpent appeared, the
symbol of Asklepios, and followed them through the streets
of the town, on to the harbour, and into their ship. They
received it joyfully as a happy portent, and set out homewards.
On reaching Italy the serpent left the ship, and proceeded to
a temple of JEsculapius, in the town of Antium, but afterwards
returned to the ship, and did not leave it again until, on
going up the Tiber, it stopped at an island. Thereupon the
pestilence ceased, and the temple was erected on the island to
-^sculapius, to commemorate the event. Thither patients were
conveyed and cured — a short statement of the symptoms of
each case, and the remedy employed, being inscribed on
l8o INFERIOR DEITIES.
tablets, which were hung up in the temple, and were found to
be a great boon to posterity.
Besides the serpent, he frequently has as an attribute a cock,
— that animal being also sacred to him. The serpent, by its
periodic change of skin, indicates rejuvenescence; the staff
marks him as wandering from place to place, to give help ;
while the dish, which he sometimes holds, is a symbol of his
healing potions. It was the custom of invalids to sacrifice a
cock to him, as Socrates did after drinking the cup of poison,
as a token that he did not fear death, but rather looked upon
it as a cure and a convalescence.
Among the children of ^sculapius, Hygiea is specially
mentioned. The name of his wife was Epigone — ''the
soothing." Like many other deities of the lower order, in
common with heroes, he was in after times placed as a star in
the sky.
In Plate XXXI. the god of medicine is represented as a man
of years, bearded, gentle, and earnest, draped, and resting on a
staff, round which a serpent, as emblem of rejuvenescence, is
coiled. His type of face resembles that of Zeus so much, that
in the case of the fine marble head in the British Museum
absolute agreement has not yet been arrived at as to which of
the two gods it was intended to represent. The head in
question was found in the island of Melos, on the site of what
is supposed to have been a temple to Asklepios, from the dis-
covery in the same place of a native tablet, dedicated to the
god and to his daughter Hygiea. A person who had recovered
from a local illness would dedicate a sculptured representation
of the part that had been affected. Of such sculptures there
are a number of examples in the British Museum.
HYGIEA. MEDITRINA. TELESPHOROS. l8l
HYGIEA,
(plate XXXI.,)
Or Hygieia, or Hygea, was, as we have just said, the
daughter of Asklepios, and the goddess of health. Others
said she was the wife of Asklepios.
She was represented as a young, active, smiling goddess, in
whom Apollo took a special interest. In Plate XXXI. she
appears draped, and holding a serpent — which, as in the case
of Asklepios, is the symbol of health. She feeds it from a
plate ox patera.
At other times she is figured wearing a wreath of laurel, or
of plants known for their medicinal properties — a patera in
her hand, a serpent coiled round her arm or body.
MEDITRINA
Passed in Rome for a sister of Hygea and a goddess of health,
a festival called Meditrinalia l)eing annually held in her
honour at the beginning of October, the ceremony consisting
in drinking some old and some new wine together, and ex-
claiming, ^' I drink the new and the old wine — with new and
old wine I heal infirmities."
The distinction between the two goddesses of health lay in
this — that while Hygea preserved good health, Meditrina
restored it. The Greek goddess Jaso appears to have been
identical with Meditrina.
TELESPHOROS
Was looked upon as a genius or deity of that secret and mys-
terious vitality which sustains the convalescent. He was re-
162 INFERIOR DEITIES.
presented (Plate XXXI.) by the side of ^^^sculapius, or stand-
ing between him and Hygea, as a small barefooted boy,
wrapped closely in a mantle, with a hood on his head. This
careful wrapping-up seems to indicate the secret shrouded
nature of the vital force which he personifies, and may also
have been meant to express the care in wrapping-up so essen-
tial to convalescence.
The principal centre of his worship was on the coast of
Asia Minor. ^ j
TYCHE, OR FORTUNA.
(plate XXI.)
The idea that a great part of the incidents and circumstances
of life was due to chance, had taken hold of the mind in very
early times, and had come to be personified in the form of a
goddess of luck, whom the Greeks called Tyche and the
Romans Fortuna. She was the daughter of Zeus. The Parca3,
or Fates, were her sisters. It was believed that she guided
the career of men, whether prosperously or the reverse ; and
to show her in this capacity, she was figured holding a double
rudder in her hands — the one to steer the barque of the lucky,
the other that of the unlucky. In later times she was repre-
sented with wings, or with her eyes bound, standing on a ball
or a wheel, to indicate that luck rolls like a ball, without choice,
undoing all the efforts of this one, and overwhelming that one
mth wealth and prosperity. Sometimes she was represented
with a ball on her head, or with a cornucopia in her hands.
In Plate XXI. she appears draped, her arms bare, a horn of
plenty in one hand and a rudder in the other, — the ball be-
side the rudder indicating the rapid turns of fortune.
NIKE, OR VICTORIA. lS$
Tyche was worshipped in many places in Greece, but espe-
cially at Athens, where she was popularly believed to reside
constantly as a favouring deity. In Italy the worship of For-
tuna was wide-spread, and a general festival held in her honour
annaally on the 24th of June. Her principal worshippers,
however, were newly-married women. She had an oracle of
considerable fame in the towns of Prseneste and Antium.
XIKE, OR MCTORL\,
(PL-\TE XXX.,)
The goddess of victor}-, was a daughter of the giant Pallas and
the Okeanid n}Tnph Styx, and was regarded by the Greeks
as inseparable from Zeus and Athene. Except in works of
art of an early period, she was represented with wings. Her
attributes were a palm-branch, a WTeath, and a trophy of ar-
mour. Sometimes she carried a staif {caduceus) like that of
Hermes, as a sign of her power, and floated in the air with
outspread wings, or appeared coming down to earth — now
pointing the way to a victor, now reaching a wreath down to
his brow, or driving his horses. As goddess of victories by
sea, suitable emblems were assigned to her.
In Plate XXX. she appears standing on a globe, draped,
winged, holding a wreath and a palm-branch. On coins ap-
parently struck to commemorate victories, or, as it sometimes
happened, success in the national games, — on engraved gems,
sculptures, — figures of Nike are of frequent occurrence. She
is also draped, and of a youthful appearance : a favourite sub-
ject, to judge from the repetition of it on gems, seems to have
1 84 INFERIOR DEITIES.
been that in which she was represented in the act of sacrificing
an ox.
EIRENE OR PAX,
The goddess of peace, was also represented holding a palm-
branch. At other times she stood with armour under her feet,
or was engaged in closing the temple of Janus. In Greece she
was reckoned one of the Horae — the most cheerful, indeed, of
the three sisters. In Rome she had a temple, and enjoyed the
honour of an annual festival on the 30th of January. ''^
FATE,
The Greek name being Ananke, the Roman Fatum, was a
personification of the unalterable necessity that appeared to
control the career of mankind and the events of the world.
Gods, as well as men, were subject to its unchanging decrees.
This deity was the offspring of Night and Erebos. Her sen-
tences were carried out by the Parcse, who, however, were also
looked upon as independent deities of fate. She was repre-
sented standing on a globe, and holding an urn.
MCERA AND THE MCERyE, OR PARC^.
In very early times the management of the world in regard to
social matters involving right and reason, was supposed to be
directly under the control of a goddess called Mcera, who, in
her own province, acknowledged the superiority of no other
deity, not even of Zeus, the ruler of the world, who, as supreme
god, could not be thought to insist on anything unreasonable
or wrong. In later times we find, instead of this single deity,
XXXI.
One of the Horse.
Perseus.
Hygiea.
iEsculapius.
MCERA AND THE MCERiE, OR PARC^. 1 85
three Moeras (or Parcae) answering respectively to the three
stages of human life — birth, years, and death. In this form,
however, they no longer retained the high position of superi-
ority to Zeus, but, like the other deities, became subject to
him, thus showing that he possessed in its highest form the
consciousness of right and reason, and was entitled to be
called Moeragetes, or leader of the Moerae.
They were described as daughters of Night — to indicate the
darkness and obscurity of human fate — or of Zeus and Themis,
that is, 'daughters of the just heavens." Another story has
it, that it was they who united Themis and Zeus in marriage,
the same ceremony, according to another version of the myth,
having been performed by them to Zeus and Hera. It was
natural to suppose the goddesses of fate present and taking
part at marriages and births.
The names of the three sisters were Klotho, Lachesis, and
Atropos. To express the influence which they were believed
to exercise on human life from birth to death, they were con-
ceived as occupied in spinning a thread of gold, silver, or wool ;
now tightening, now slackening, and at last cutting it off.
This occupation was so arranged among the three, that Klotho,
the youngest, put the wool round the spindle, Lachesis spun it,
and Atropos, the eldest, cut it off, when a man had to die.
Tyche, or Fortuna, has been taken as a fourth sister, on account
of the similarity of her functions. It is not, however, so.
They were represented in art as serious maidens, always side
by side, and in most cases occupied as we have mentioned ;
there being instances, however, in which Atropos, the ' unal-
terable,' is represented alone.
They were worshipped very seriously both in Greece and
Italy : sacrifices of honey and flowers, sometimes of ewes, were
1 86 INFERIOR DEITIES.
offered to them, while in Sparta and in Rome they had tem-
ples and altars.
NEMESIS,
Called also Adrasteia and Rhamnusia, from Rhamnus in
Attica, the principal centre of her worship, was a personifica-
tion of the vengeance which appeared to overtake every act of
wrong. She was the goddess of punishment, and as such a
figure of her was placed beside the bench of the judges. A
mysterious power, watching over the propriety of life, she was
conceived as shaping the demeanour of men in their times of
prosperity, punishing crime, taking luck away from the un-
worthy, tracking every wrong to its doer, and keeping society
in equipoise. She was represented as a thoughtful, beautiful
figure of queenly aspect, with a diadem or crown on her head,
winged, except in the case of early sculptures, or driving in a
car drawn by gryphons. Among her several attributes were a
wheel, to indicate the speed of her punishments, a balance, a
bridle, a yoke, a rudder, a lash, a sword, and an apple-branch.
Special festivals, called Nemesia, accompanied by public
sacrifices to assure her good will, were held annually in Athens
and in Smyrna.
Now Erebos, now Okeanos, is mentioned as her father, while
Zeus is said to have been her lover, and Helena their daughter.
To execute her commands she had three attendants, Dike,
Poena, and Erinys (respectively justice, punishment, and
vengeance). She was a terror to evil-doers. At the same time
her endeavours to preserve an equal balance in the attitude of
man to man were recognized as springing from a deep-seated
love, and therefore she was placed beside the Graces. In
Smyrna several winged beings of her type were worshipped.
ERIS ENYO. 187
ERIS,
Called by the Romans Discordia, the goddess of strife, was
employed by the other gods to stir up fierce disputes and
mortal quarrels among men. It was she who caused the dis-
pute between Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite for the possession
of the golden apple, the prize of beauty, which she threw
among the company assembled at the marriage of Peleus.
Terrible in form and aspect, with attributes like those of the
Eumenides, with whom her home was in the realms below,
she was looked on as the sister and companion, sometimes as
the wife, of Ares, the god of massacre. Her daughter was
ENYO,
Whom the Romans called Bellona, now believing her to be
the wife and now the sister of Mars. Similarly among the
Greeks, Enyo, the murderous goddess of war, delighting in
devastation, was associated with Ares, v»^ho also bore the title
of Eny alios, either driving his chariot or rushing in front
of it to battle. The peculiar fierceness and fury with which
she spread terror and alarm in a battle distinguished her from
Pallas-Athene. She was represented as of frightful aspect,
with flowing hair, rushing wildly hither and thither, with a
lash in her hand, and armed with shield and spear. Her
most celebrated temple was that at Komana, in Asia Minor.
At the close of the war against the Samnites a temple was
erected to her in Rome by Appius Claudius. There the
Senate used to meet when they had to deliberate with an em-
bassy from a hostile power, or when they had to decide
whether the honour of a triumphal entry into the city should
INFERIOR DEITIES.
be bestowed upon a general. At the entrance to the temple
stood a pillar, which, on the occasion of declaring war, was
viewed as marking the boundary between Roman and hostile
territory. The ceremony of declaring war was to throw a
spear over this pillar — that is, into the territory of the enemy.
There festivals of din and wild excitement were held in her
honour. Her priests were styled Bellonarii,
PHEME, OR FAMA, ^—
The goddess of fame or report, whether good or bad, was said
to be a daughter of Gaea, and born at the time of her great
indignation at the overthrow of the Giants. Sleepless, always
prying, swift of foot, Pheme announced whatever she saw or
heard of, at first in a whisper addressed only to a few persons,
then by degrees louder and to a larger circle, until finally she
had traversed heaven and earth communicating it. She was
represented as a tender, gentle figure, winged, and holding a
trumpet.
ATE
Was the goddess of infatuation, mischief, and guilt, misleading
men to actions that involved them in ruin. For this her
father, Zeus, cast her in anger from Olympos, and from that time
she wandered about the earth in search of victims to her
malignant influence. She was spoken of as powerful in person
and swift of foot, running before men to mislead them. Her
sisters were the
LIT^,
Sweet-natured goddesses, whose special duty was to recom-
pense the persons whom Ate had reduced to distress and ruin.
' vy 1
One of the Erinys.
m:M^^^
H:
Eros Grieving lor Psyche.
THE ERINYS, OR FURIiE. 1 89
Their name signifies *' prayers of the penitent," and the
allegory in tliis case is not far to seek. Prayers atone and
make amends for what a man does to the harm of others in
thoughtlessness or from infatuation, without wicked thought
or design. In the Homeric poems they are described as lame,
wrinkled, and squinting — those deformities being caused by
the trouble they had in making good the harm done by Ate.
Penitent prayers were at best but sorry aid in making good
the evil done from infatuation or carelessness.
The Lit3e were supposed to be daughters of Zeus, and to
place before him the prayers of those who invoked his as-
sistance.
THE ERINYS, or FURI^,
(plate XXIX.,)
Called also Dirae, Eumenides, or Semnae — that is, the
** revered " goddesses, were daughters of Night, or, according to
another myth, of the Earth and Darkness, while a third account
calls them offspring of Kronos and Eurynome. They were
attendants of Hades and Persephone, and lived at the entrance
to the lower world. Their first duty was to see to the punish-
ment of those of the departed who, having been guilty of some
crime on earth, had come dovv^n to the shades without obtain-
ing atonement from the gods. At the command of the higher
gods, sometimes of Nemesis, they appeared on earth pursuing
criminals. Nothing escaped their sharp eyes as they followed
the evil-doer with speed and fury, permitting him no rest.
A sad instance of this is the story of Orestes, tlic son of
Agamemnon, who slew his mother, Klytaemnestra, to
avenge his father's death. The atrocity of the crime committed
190 INFERIOR DEITIES.
by Kly tsemnestra was held by Zeus and Apollo to be no excuse
for the act of Orestes, and accordingly he was subjected to the
long and cruel pursuit of the Furies, from which he was at
length freed by bringing, on the advice of an oracle of Apollo,
an image of Artemis from Tauros to Argos.
In Plate XXIX. is represented one of the Erinys pursuing
Orestes ; the face reflected on the mirror which she holds is
perhaps that of Klytsemnestra.
The number of the Erinys, varying in early times, was after-
wards fixed to three : Tisiphone (the avenger of murder),
Alekto (the unwearied persecutor), and Megsera (the grim).
They were represented as female figures of odious aspect, clad
in black, sometimes winged, with hair formed of vipers, and
carrying a serpent, a knife, or a torch in their hands. In time
this grim conception of them fell away, and they came to be
represented as beautiful serious maidens, clad something like
Artemis. As divine beings, whose office it was to punish
neglect of duty, breach of faith, and crimes committed against
parents, they came to be looked upon as aiding the preserva-
tion of a high morality, and were called Eumenides, or the
"well-minded goddesses." When sacrifices were offered to
them, the place chosen for the occasion was of a wild charac-
ter, the time night, and the animals sacrificed, black. In
Greece there were several temples and solemn groves dedica-
ted to them — as, for eaeample, at Colonos, close by Athens.
THE HARPYS,
Also were creatures employed, according to the belief of the
Greeks and Romans, by the higher gods to carry out the
punishment of crime. They were three in number : Aello,
THE GORtJONS.
191
Okypete, and Kelseno, or Podarge ; and were said to be
daughters of the giant Thaumas and the Okeanid nymph
Elektra. Their body was that of a bird, their head that of
a woman ; and it would seem that they were originally god-
desses of the storm, which carries everything along with it.
Their manner of punishing those whom they were sent to
punish was to carry off all the food set before their victim, and
devour it, or failing that, to render it uneatable. Among others
who were punished in this way was Phineus, a king of
Thrace, his crime having been cruelty towards his own son and
contempt of the gods. For showing the Argonauts the way
to Kolchis he was, however, freed from their persecution by
Kalais and Zetes, the winged sons of Boreas, who, in grati-
tude, killed them. At other times, as the case of the daughters
of Pandareos, they are described as carrying off their victims
bodily from the earth; while, on the so-called Harpy tomb in
the British Museum, they appear to be represented as daemons
of death carrying away the souls of deceased persons.
THE GORGONS,
By name Stheino, Euryale, and Medusa, were daughters
of Phorkys and Keto. Two of them were believed to be
immortal, while the third. Medusa, the youngest and most
beautiful of them, was mortal. She loved Poseidon, and having
met him once in the temple of Athene, to the desecration of
that building, was punished by having her beautiful hair
turned into snakes, thus making her appearance more ghastly
than that of her sisters. Her face was terrible to behold,
turning the spectator into stone. At last Perseus, finding
her asleep, cut off her head with his curved sword, and pre-
192 INFERIOR DEITIES.
sented it to Athene, who had assisted him in the enterprise,
to be worn on her cegis or shield as a terror to her enemies.
The ancient poets describe the Gorgons generally as horrid,
aged women, and frequently place them by the side of the
Furies. In early times there was only one Gorgon — Medusa
— instead of the three of later times. The winged horse,
Pegasos, was the offspring of her and Poseidon.
In Plate XXXI. Perseus is represented standing with sword
in one hand and the head of Medusa in the other, turning his
face away to avoid seeing it. The subject of Perseus cutting
off the head of Medusa occurs in one of the earliest examples
of Greek sculpture — one of the metopes of the oldest temple at
Selinus, in Sicily; and from the conventional manner in
which her face is represented, compared with the other parts
of the sculpture, it is agreed that the type must have been
familiar for some time to Greek art. To possess a represen-
tation of a Gorgon's face was to be provided with a charm
against ills, and accordingly it was frequently employed as a
personal ornament. Many hundreds of such faces worked in
thin gold, and intended to be stitched down on garments,
were found in the tomb of a priestess of Demeter in Kertch,
and are now in the hermitage of St. Petersburg. A represen-
tation of Perseus escaping after cutting off the Gorgon's head,
and being pursued by her sisters, occurs on a small vase in
the British Museum, where also is to be seen, on a fragment
of a terra-cotta relief, Athene holding up the shield, the
polished surface of which reflected her face, and thus guided
Perseus to the spot without his encountering its deadly stare.
THE GRAE.'E. 1 93
THE GRAE^,
Daughters of Phorkys and Keto, were three in number;
Deino, Pephredo, and Enyo; their names meaning re-
spectively ** alarm," ''dread," and "horror." Sisters and at
the same time guardians of the Gorgons, they were conceived
as misshapen hideous creatures, hoary and withered from their
birth, with only one eye and one tooth for the common use of
the three, and were supposed to inhabit a dark cavern near the
entrance to Tartaros. The belief in their existence seems to
have been originally suggested by the grey fog or mist which
lies upon the sea and is a frequent source of danger to the
mariner. It is said that Perseus obtained from them the ne-
cessary information as to the dwelling of the Gorgons by
seizing their solitary eye and tooth, and refusing to return
them until they showed him the way.
NYX, OR NOX,
Was, it will be remembered, a daughter of Chaos. She be-
came the wife of Erebos (darkness), and bore to him two
children, -^ther (the pure air) and Hemera (day). In the
earliest form of the myth she was one of the seven elements
that constituted the world — fire, water, earth, sky, sun, moon,
and night.
In time the lively imagination of the ancients associated
with this mysterious goddess of night a control over illness,
sufferings, dreams, misfortunes, quarrels, war, murder, sleep,
and death ; everything inexplicable and frightful that befell
men being personified and described as her offspring.
She was supposed to inhabit a palace in the lower world
jointly with Day. When the latter entered the palace, Night
13
250
HEROES.
of it by the remains of poetry and art of high antiquity. The
hydra \\d^ a monster with nine heads, of which eight were mor-
tal and the ninth invulnerable. It lived in the marshy ground
beside the fountain of Amymone, and even the smell which
spread from its poison was fatal to any one who passed near it.
Herakles arrived at the spot in a chariot, attended by lolaos,
and succeeded in driving the hydra from its hole by firing his
arrows in upon it. The fight began, and Herakles found that
for every head of it which he cut two fresh heads started up,
and to increase the difficulty a huge crab came and seized him
by the heel. It was necessary to try another form of attack.
Herakles ordered lolaos to set the neighbouring wood on fire
and to fetch him a brand from it ; with the brand so obtained
he proceeded, the moment he had cut off a head, to burn it
up, and in this way destroying them one by one, he at last
came to the invulnerable head, cut it off also, and buried it
under a huge rock. He dipped his arrows in the poison of the
hydra. When his success was reported to Eurystheus, the lat-
ter refused to reckon it as one of the labours, on the ground
that lolaos had rendered assistance. The interpretation of the
legend is that the hydra or v/ater-snake is a symbol of the
horrors of a marshy district, and that its poison, with its fatal
smell, represents the miasma which arises from such districts.
3. The Erymajithian boar, like the Keryneian stag and the
Stymphalian Birds, carries us to a mountainous and wild rustic
scene. Its haunt was on Mount Erymanthos, in the north of
Arcadia. But the name of Erymanthos was also applied to a
stream wliich flowed down tlie mountain side; and it is not
imjjrobable that the wild boar was only a legendary illustration
of the ravages jjroduced in winter and early spring by the
descent of this river with swollen torrents. The orders of
THE TWKLVK l^UOURS OF HEKAKLES. 35I
EurystheiLS were thai ihc hoar .shoultl l>c l>ruugl»l ba< k alive
to Mykcnae; but at the siyht of Herakles returning with it
alive on his shoulders, fear took |xissession of the king, and
he hid himself in a large bron/e vessel, into which Herakles,
as frequently represente*! on ancient vxs6s, pro< cede<l lo put
the boar, ;ls the s;ifest possible place. The consternation of
lOurystheus may be imagined. In ( onnection with the cap-
ture of tlie boar is told the story of a visit whicli Herakles
jjaid on his way to the Centaur, I'holos, who lived in a cave
on Mount Pholoe. Tlie hero wa.s hungry, and Tholos gave
him to eat. He w;is also thirsty, and required some wine.
Now Pholos had at hand a large vase full of choice wine, but
it was the common pro|)erty of the Centaurs who lived in
Other parts of the mountain. On the other hand the wine
had been a present from Dionysos, and had been accom|xinied
with the command that it should not be oj)ened till his good
frientl Herakles arrived. Pholos accordingly had no hesita-
tion in tapping the vase, and huih drank freely from it. The
strong aroma of the wine, liowever, rca( hed the nostrils of the
other Centaurs, who now flot ked towards the ( ave of Pholos
in wil:l confusion, armed witli |)ine branches, rocks, axes, and
torches, and fell ui>on Herakles. A violent fight ensuetl, in
which Herakles, besides w ith .superior numbers, had al.so to
contend with the disadvantages of a flood of water sent by the
clouds, who were the mothers of the Centaurs. Ultimately he
succeeded in wounding many, and disix-rsing the others into
the woods, — the only melancholy part of the issue being that
his friend Pholos lost his life, under circumstances which re-
mind us of the death of tl\at other kindly Centaur, Chiron,
who lived on Mount Pelion, and brought up Achilles. Pholos
was stooping over a Centaur who had fallen by an arrow from
196 INFERIOR DEITIES.
THANATOS, or MORS,
The god of death, was, as we have said, a son of Night and
twin-brother of Sleep. He was, however, also described as a
son of Earth and Tartaros, to whom it was his office to intro-
duce, some time or other, the whole of mankind. The
relentless severity with which he discharged the task caused
him to be frequently regarded with pain, and to be repre-
sented as of a powerful figure, with shaggy beard and fierce
countenance, with great wings to his shoulders, and rese^nb-
ling, on the whole, the figure of Boreas, the god of the wild
north wind of winter. This form, in the case of both deities,
was expressive of the violent nature of their functions.
Thanatos was, however, more frequently regarded with
submission, or as coming opportunely, and in such cases was
represented in the form of a quiet pensive youth, winged,
standing with his legs crossed, often beside an urn with a
wreath on it, and holding an extinguished torch reversed. Or,
as a personification of endless repose, he appeared in the form
of a beautiful youth leaning against the trunk of a tree, with
one arm thrown up over his head — an attitude by which ancient
artists usually expressed repose. It was probably owing to the
spread of the belief that death was a transition from life to
Elysium, that in later times this more attractive representation
of the god of death took the place of the former repulsive
representations whether, as a powerful and violent god, or as
a black child in the arms of his mother. Night. Among the
figures sculptured on the chest of Kypselos, a description of
which we have still in Pausanias, was that of Night carrying
twin children in her arms — the one white, representing Sleep,
and the other black, representing Death. On Roman sarco-
DEMONS, OR GENII. I97
phagi, Mors, or the genius of death, was represented in the form
of a winged boy, resembling Cupid, resting and holding a
torch. In the Alcestis of Euripides he is described as armed
with a sword.
DEMONS, OR GENII,
Were an order of invisible beings, one of whom was assigned
by Zeus to every man, to attend, protect, and guide him. They
were nameless, and, like the multitude of mankind, innumera-
ble. Some of them acted as personal attendants to deities of
a higher order, and in that case were represented under par-
ticular forms, and enjoyed distinctive names, while others were
believed to watch over particular districts, towns, or nations.
While the Greeks regarded these Daemons as deities of an
inferior order, the Romans believed them to be a sort of inter-
mediate beings linking mankind to the gods. The Daemons
assigned to women were supposed to be feminine.
To every man was assigned a Daemon at his birth. Iden-
tifying itself with him, it endeavoured, throughout his life, to
guide him in a wise course, and at his death died with him.
To be of a cheerful mood, and to be careful of prolonging
life, was to live in obedience to a man's Daemon or Genius.
To be sad and vexed, or to shorten life by recklessness, was
to wrong the attendant spirit. On birthdays it was usual to
offer a sacrifice of wine, milk, flowers, or incense to the Genius,
while at most meals some unmixed wine was poured out to the
"Good Daemon" (Agathodaemon).
The usual representation of a being of this class was in the
form of a youth holding a horn of plenty and a dish in one
hand, and some heads of poppies and ears of grain in the
INFERIOR DEITIES.
Other. The presence of a Daemon was also symbolized by the
figure of a serpent.
Besides the general family of Genii, the Romans had one
great Genius whom they reckoned among the gods of the
second rank, and esteemed highly, believing that he had some
control over the others.
LARES AND PENATES
Were beings peculiar to the religion of the Romans. Every
household was supposed to be under the protection of one
Lar and several Penates, whose presence was symbolized by
images in the form of a youth wearing a short tunic, girt at the
waist, and holding a horn of plenty in one hand, and 2. pat era ^
or flat circular dish, in the other. Such images of the Lares
and Penates were kept in a particular part of the house called
the Lararium, received constant offerings of incense and liba-
tions, and were decked with garlands of violets and rosemary.
When a slave obtained his freedom, it was the custom of his
former master to hang a chain upon the figures of his Lares.
When a youth left the paternal roof he prayed : "Ye Penates
of my fathers, and you, Lar, father of our family, I commend
to you my parents, that you may protect them. Other
Penates and another Lar I must now seek."
Besides these private household deities there were also
public Lares, who were recognized as the protecting spirits of
whole states and towns. Of these there were originally two
in Rome, and later three, — the spirit of Julius Caesar having
been added as the third ; for the Lares were considered to be
the spirits of deceased persons who continued to watch over
and influence the living. The other two were, however, re-
THE MANES, 1 99
gardcd sometimes as sons of Mercury and a nymph called
Lara. Statues and temples were erected in their honour.
Sacrifice and prayers for the safety of the state were offered
up at their altars, which in spring and in summer were fre-
quently decked with flowers. They were protectors of high-
ways and travellers, and in this capacity had the honour of a
festival called Compitalia, which was annually celebrated at
cross-roads, a few days after the Saturnalia, and consisted
of a banquet and sacrifice of cakes, the ceremony being con-
ducted by slaves. . To the Lares who protected the fields,
sacrifices of lambs, calves, and pigs were offered.
It was believed that the Genii of good people became after
their death kindly Lares, while the Genii of evil-doers became
Lemures or Larvae — that is, evil spirits who wandered
about the earth afflicting mankind with illnesses for which
there was no remedy but expiatory sacrifices to the gods.
Persons who died without expiation for every wrong they had
done were pursued by these Larvae in the lower world.
THE MANES,
Generally speaking, were the souls of the departed inhabiting
the realm of shadows. Survivors, however, who believe that
departed souls sustained a higher and nobler existence,
regarded them as divine beings, calling them Dii Manes,
offered sacrifice to them at tombs, and thought it possible to
call them up from the lower world.
III. DEMIGODS, OR HEROES.
DEMIGODS, or heroes, were a class of beings peculiar,
it would seem, to the mythology of the Greeks. They
were regarded partly as of divine origin, were represented as
men possessed of godlike form, strength, and courage ; were
believed to have lived on earth in the remote dim ages of the
nation's history; to have been occupied in their lifetime with
thrilling adventures and extraordinary services in the cause of
human civilization, and to have been after death in some
cases translated to a life among the gods, and entitled to
sacrifice and worship.^ They were described as having been
the first sovereigns and legislators of the nation, and as the
founders of all the kingly and noble families. Monsters that
devastated particular localities were destroyed, the oppressed
were set free, and everywhere order and peaceful institutions
were established by them. They were, in short, the adven-
turous knights the history of whose deeds formed for the mass
of the people the first chapter of the national history, and that
in a manner worthy both of the civilization to which the nation
had attained, and of the gods to whose influence the progress
was due. The legends of their adventures furnished to poets
and artists an inexhaustible treasure of striking figures, won-
derful deeds, and strange events, while they formed at the
same time a most powerful element in the national education.
ORIGIN OF THE HEROES.
It has Ix-cn suggested tliat the belief in these beings may
have originated in later times, in an impulse to people the blank
early pre-historic age with ideal figures of a sublime order of
men, to whom the nation might look back with pride; or
that it may liave originated in a desire to dwell on the memory
of distinguished })er.-,ons who had actually existed, and in time,
by so doing, to exaggerate their actions to a degree quite be-
yond human powers. But it is far more probable that, like
the gods, the heroes had originally been divine personifications
of certain elements of nature, and the legends of adventures
ascribed to them merely a mythical form of describing the
phenomena of these elements. The idea, for example, of a
long struggle and ultimate victory over grim enemies, which
is so characteristic of these adventures, is the same idea that
we find pervading the early myths, in which the powers of
light are represented as struggling with, and finally overcom-
ing the powers of darkness. But while the gods always main-
tained their relationship to the elements of nature, of which
they were divine personifications — marine deities for instance,
dwelling in the depths of the sea, and celestial deities in the
pure ether — the heroes or demigods, on the other hand, had
ceased to be identified with any particular element, and though
retaining the form, strength, and courage of gods, came in
time to be regarded as men of high order that had once in-
habited Greece, but had passed away. The legends, which,
as we have said, had been intended to be the mythical de-
scriptions of certain natural phenomena, were expanded so as
to embrace the new variety of adventures which imagination
with its wide scope now assigned to the heroes.
There apj>ears to have been a time when the gods generally
were in danger of being reduced in this manner to the condi-
aty^
/H'iJ'OKJi.
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w:\i '/I /< ir, Willi III' 'lil-i/j;, ;tii<l ( iiiiMhi, IIm' « onlml-i i,i Apollo
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h« )()|/ « ;il< i|j;i|r<|, (loin III' II ;i'l7' iiliM'/ii-, ii;iliii', \<, |*m ■.'iil
llirir ;ii)llioi;-, ino/«' III III' li/vlil ol Immm', ||i;iiioI /.'/mI,, .'iimI (o
l'*»in M lulily ^*i)l/j'< l;v I'w III' ' |/i' );o<'l;i, {i;H»Mlr«'(| ihc ( onl<';il?^,
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ORIGIN OF THE HEROES.
203
pcnscd with as gods would be retained, on account of tlieir
local adventures, as heroes or demigods.
Turning to the oldest examples of the Greek epic poetry
which we possess — the Iliail and Odyssey — we find the heroes
represented as hardly distinguisha])Ie from men. More power-
ful, more beautiful, and more courageous they certainly were
than the ordinary men of their day, and on this account were
looked on as descendants of the gods; still their ways of life
were distinctly the ways of men, not of gods.
By the time of Hesiod we find this opinion of the heroes
changed. The heroic age is lamented as a thing of the past.
The people of his time, aware of their weakness and wants,
looked back with reverent feelings to the happy age in which
the great heroes stood between the gods and feeble mankind.
Zeus, it was taught by Hesiod, had translated the heroes to the
isl;mds of the blest, far removed from men, where they lived
in a perpetual golden age under the sovereignty of Kronos.
The people, however, thought otherwise, believing that the
ancient tumuli in Greece and in Asia Minor were the graves
of the heroes. The imposing tumuli at the entrance to the
Hellespont, for instance, were viewed as the tombs of Achilles,
Patroklos, and Ajax. Sanctuaries and temples were erected
to heroes, their bones were searched for, and when found re-
garded as a great source of strength to the town that possessed
tliem ; all relics of their stay on earth were hallowed, and a
f.)rm of worship was specially adapted to them.
In later times the heroes came to be identified more or less
with the Daemons. The consequence of this was that all in-
dividuals who on account of extraordinary strength, courage,
beauty, talent, or self-sacrifice, were supposed to be possessed
of special Daemons, were reckoned as heroes. And this was
204 HEROES.
not confined to persons remarkable for their good qualities ;
successful daring entitling a robber to this rank as much as did
the bravery of the men who fell at Marathon and Platsese.
In still later times, as the belief gained ground that every
soul had something of the nature of a Daemon in it, and was
destined to a higher and nobler life, heroic honours were paid
to almost all the dead; so that when a man of particular
distinction died, the only course left open of paying him sig-
nal honours was to regard him as having been, after the
manner of Herakles, translated to a life among the gods, and
to worship him as a god.
It is, however, only with the heroes or demigods that occur
in the mythology and the epic poetry that we have to do.
They may be divided into three classes : First, the demigods,
associated with the creation of mankind and the earliest inci-
dents of human history and civilization, — the most striking
figure among them being that of Prometheus. Secondly, the
earlier heroes properly so called — such as Herakles, Theseus,
Minos, Pelos, Perseus, or Bellerophon, who were distinguished
for their extraordinary adventures, labours, and expeditions,
such, for example, as that of the Argonauts to Kolchis. Third-
ly, the more recent heroes, the tales of whose deeds and ex-
peditions— for instance, those against Troy and Thebes — read
more like historical traditions magnified by the imagination
of the poets, than allegorical narratives such as those of the
two preceding classes.
PROMETHEUS. 205
THE CREATION OF MAN.
PROMETHEUS and the FIRST DEMIGODS.
AMONG the various opinions in ancient times concerning
the origin of mankind, the most generally accepted one
appears to have been that in which it was asserted that man
and all other forms of life had, like the gods, originally sprung
from the common mother earth. It was not supposed that
the whole human race could trace its lineage back to one
primeval pair; on the contrary, it was believed that a pri-
meval pair had been created in all the chief districts in which
mankind was afterwards found settled. As the natural fea-
tures of these districts varied, so varied the opinions with
regard to the exact substance from which the first beings had
sprung. In wooded and mountainous districts, for instance,
they were held to have sprung from rocks and trees ; in val-
leys, from the moist element of nature. As to the time at
which this creation took place, and whether it took place
simultaneously throughout the various inhabited regions, we
have no means of knowing the current belief.
From the primitive condition of savages living like animals
in the forests and caves, they advanced slowly in the direction
of civilization, — sometimes visited with terrible punishments,
and sometimes assisted by the gods; the different classes or
tribes becoming in time united into two great races, — the
Pelasgic and the Hellenic. The former traced its origin to
2o6 HEROES.
the Argive Phoroneus, and appears to have been resident
mainly in the Peloponnesos, while the latter looked back to
Deukalion as its founder, and was resident in Thessaly and
round Parnassos. According to the story, a great flood had
swept away the whole human race except one pair, Deukalion
and Pyrrha, who, as the flood abated, landed on Mount Par-
nassos, and thence descending, picked up stones, and cast
them round about, as Zeus had commanded. From these
stones sprang a new race — men from those cast by Deukalion,
and women from those cast by his wife. From Hellenj-^the
son of Deukalion, the Hellenic race derived its name, while
its four great branches, the Cohans, Dorians, Achseans, and
lonians, traced their descent and names from four of his sons.
In such a primitive condition of life, perhaps nothing was
regarded as of greater importance, or more mysterious in its
nature, than fire. Its beam dispelled the dread of darkness,
and its warmth removed the chill of winter. The fire of the
hearth was the centre of domestic life. At the forge, tools
and weapons were fashioned. It was an emblem of the life
of man, with its flash and sudden extinction on the one hand
and the illumination of its prolonged blaze on the other. In
storms it was seen descending from the sky, and in volcanic
eruptions it was seen issuing from the earth. The source of
it all was readily believed to be in the close keeping of the
gods ; and how mankind came to obtain the use of it was
explained in the story of Prometheus.
Zeus, foreseeing the arrogance that would arise from the
possession of so great a blessing, had from the first refused
to transmit any portion of his sacred fire to men. Their
deplorable condition, however, owing to the want of it,
found a champion in the person of Prometheus (a son of the
PROMETHEUS. 207
Titan Japetos), wlio had previously identified himself with
the cause of humanity in a dispute that arose at Mekone
(Sikyon) as to the rightful share of the gods in all sacrifices
offered to them. On that occasion an ox had been slaugh-
tered as a sacrifice, and Prometheus, having wrapped up all
the eatable parts in the skin of the animal as one portion, and
having cleverly covered the bones and worthless parts with
fat as the other portion, asked Zeus to select what he thought
the better portion for the gods. Zeus, though i)erfectly aware
of the deceit, chose the worthless parts, and more firmly than
ever determined to withhold his fire from men. Prometheus^
however, resolved to obtain it for them, and succeeded in
snatching some of it from the hearth of Zeus, or, as another
version of the story has it, from the forge of Hephoestos in
Lemnos. As a punishment, he was condemned to be chained
alive to a rock in the remote Caucasus mountains, and to sub-
mit while every day a vulture came to gnaw away his liver,
which daily grew afresh. For a long time he bore this suffer-
ing, and indeed would never have been released but for the
secret which he possessed concerning the ultimate fate of the
dominion of Zeus, who, for the purpose of learning the secret,
permitted Herakles to shoot the vulture, to free Prometheus,
and bring him back to Olympos.
Meanwhile the human race enjoyed the many benefits of
fire, and continued to advance in civilization rapidly. But
that their cup of happiness might be mixed with sorrow, Zeus
ordered Hephaestos to fashion a woman of clay, of divine
beauty, but possessed of all the weaknesses as well as charms
of human nature. Athene instructed her in the industrial
occupations of women, Aphrodite gave her grace of manners,
and taught her the arts of a beauty, while Hermes qualified
2o8 HEROES.
her for the part of flattering and soothing. With the help of
the Graces and Horse, Athene robed her with costly, beautiful
robes, and decked her with flowers, so that, when all was done,
Pandora, as they called her, might be irresistibly attractive to
gods and men. Hermes conducted her to Epimetheus,
who, though warned by his brother Prometheus to accept no
gift from Zeus, yielded to the besetting weakness from which
he obtained his name — that of being wise when it was too
late. He received Pandora into his house, and made her his
wife. She brought with her a vase, the lid of which wasTb
remain closed. The curiosity of her husband, however,
tempted him to open it, and suddenly there escaped from it
troubles, weariness, and illnesses, from which mankind was
never afterwards free. All that remained was Hope.
We have thus, in contrast with the general belief described
above as the spontaneous origin of man from the earth, an
instance of a human being directly fashioned by the gods from
clay. From this mean substance it was also asserted the first
men were made by Prometheus, Athene assisting him by
breathing life into his figures. But this was probably only a
learned speculation, indulged in to account for the zeal dis-
played by Prometheus in the cause of human civilization. It
is better to account for that zeal by assuming Prometheus to
have been originally a god of fire, who, asserting his right to
employ that clement for the benefit of mankind, provoked
the hostility of the other gods, and from that time forward
identified himself with the cause of men. There is good
ground for assuming this in the fact that Prometheus was
intimately associated with Hei)haistos in the very ancient
worship of that god in Lcmnos and in Attica.
While the progress of civilization, as far as it had depended
THK FIRST HEROES. 209
on, or could be symbolized by, fire, was connected with Pro-
metheus, the i)rogress of agriculture in primitive times was
reflected in the story of the two giants Otos and Ephialtes,
sons of Aloeus (the planter) and Iphimedeia. Small and puny
at their birth, they grew quickly, living on grain, and soon
Ijecame the wonder of men for their great size and t)eauty.
Poinding that war and agriculture could not go together, they
seized Ares, the god of war, bound and confined him in a
large brazen vase for thirteen months. He would have per-
ished in it had not Hermes at length heard of his imprison-
ment, and set him free. Becoming more and more arrogant
in the pride of their strength, the two brothers next determined
to assail the immortal gods in Olympos itself, and for this
purpose they had placed Mount Ossa on the top of Mount
Olympos, and upon Ossa had heaped Mount Pelion, when
the shafts of Apollo felled them. They perished in youth,
ere their beards had grown.
THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
IT will be convenient to separate, for the present, the
legends of the adventures of Herakles, together with those
that relate to combined expeditions of heroes from different
districts, — such as the expedition of the Argonauts, — from the
other legends of this earlier race of heroes, and to arrange the
latter class according to the localities assigned as the princi-
pal scenes of their actions, beginning with
14
2IO HEROES.
(^.) ARGOS.
At the head of the Argive line of heroes stands Inachos,
the river-god, a son of Okeanos, like all the other river-gods.
With the nymph Melia for his wife, he became the father of
Phoroneus and lo, of whom the former, according to Argive
legends, was the first man upon the earth. Such services as
Prometheus was elsewhere believed to have rendered to early
civilization, were there ascribed to Phoroneus. He was
reputed to have founded the town of Argos, and to have estab-
lished there the worship of Hera. With regard to lo, we
have already related (in connection with Hermes) how she
was loved by Zeus, and, to escape the jealousy of Hera, was
transformed by him into a cow — how Hera, discovering the
transformation, set a watch over lo, in the person of Argos,
a giant with a hundred eyes, and how Hermes slew the watch-
man and released lo. Another version of the story says that
it was Hera who transformed lo into a cow, for the purpose
of thwarting the love of Zeus for her. Argos had tethered
her to an olive-tree in a grove sacred to Herxi, between the
towns of Mykenae and Argos, and was there keeping guard
when Hermes arrived and slew him. Though set free, lo did
not yet regain her human form, but was compelled to wander
through distant lands in the form of a white horned cow,
goaded by a vexatious insect sent by Hera. At last, on
reaching Egypt, she obtained rest, was restored to her human
form, and became the mother of Epaphos.
lo, the white horned cow, appears to have been a personifi-
cation of the moon, like the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who
was also represented in this form. Her wanderings were like
the wanderings of the moon. Hera, who punished her, was
DANAOS.
the supreme goddess of the heavens. Argos, with liis many
eyes, reminds us of the stars. The slaying of Argos by Her-
mes was a favourite subject with ancient artists. /
Epaphos became king of Egypt, and had a daughter called
Libya (after the district of that name on the shore of the
Mediterranean), who bore to Poseidon, the sea-god, two
sons — Agenor and Belos. While the former became the
head of a race that spread over Phcenicia, Cilicia, and on to
Thebes in Greece, Belos remained in Egypt, succeeded to the
throne, and marrying Anchirrhoe, a daughter of the Nile,
had two sons, iEgyptos and Danaos. The latter was ap-
pointed to rule over Arabia, the former over Libya, ^gyp-
tos had fifty sons, and Danaos the same number of daughters.
A dispute arose between the two families, and Danaos yielding
took ship with his daughters and sailed to Argos, pursued all
the way by the sons of ^gyptos. At Argos, the home of his
race, he was kindly received by the reigning king, and pro-
tected a:gainst the pursuers.
At that time the district of Argos was suffering from a
drought which Poseidon had angrily caused. Danaos sent out
his daughters to search for a spring, and while they were so
engaged it happened that one of them, Amymone, throwing
her spear at a stag misse»l it, and hit a Satyr who was asleep in
the brake. Pursued by the Satyr, she called on the name of
Poseidon for help, and the god instantly appeared, drove off
the Satyr, and for love of the beautiful Danaid cau:^ed a peren-
nial spring to flow at Lerna, where he met her. Amymone
bore to Poseidon Nauplios, the wrecker of Nauplia, who by
false lights misled many ships to their destruction among rocks,
and enriched himself from their cargoes. By a singular fatality
he perished in this way himself at last. He had three sons:
2 I 2 HEROES.
Palamedes, celebrated for his inventive faculty, Oiax, the
steersman, and Nausimedon, the ship captain.
Meantime the sons of ^gyptos, it is said, having besieged
Argos for some time, at length proposed to forget their differ-
ence with Danaos, and to marry his daughters. Without
relenting in the least, he agreed to give his daughters to them
in marriage, but to each daughter he presented a knife, and
commanded them all to slay each her own husband on the
marriage night. All obeyed his order except Hypermnestra,
who preferring to be regarded as of weak resolution than as a
murderess, spared her husband, Lynkeus, and became the
mother of the Argive line of kings. While Zeus approved
the murderous deed of her forty-nine sisters, and sent Athene
and Hermes to give them expiation, Hypermnestra was cast into
a dungeon by her indignant father, her husband, Lynkeus,
saving himself by flight. On being brought to trial she was
however publicly acquitted ; her husband returning to Argos,
succeeded Danaos on the throne, and in after times was widely
respected, among other things for having founded the great
festival in honour of the Argive Hera. The prize of victory
in the games that accompanied that festival was a shield,
not a wreath, as was elsewhere usual; the tradition be-
ing that on the first occasion of these games Lynkeus pre-
sented his son Abas with the shield which had belonged to
Danaos.
Whether it was to obtain husbands for his daughters who
had accomplished their own widowhood, or whether it was to
decide among a multitude of suitors for their hands, Danaos
held a kind of tournament, the victors in which were to be ac-
cepted as husbands. On the morning of the contest he ranged
his daughters together on the course, and by noon each had
AKRISIOS AND PRCETOS. 213
been carried off by a victorious athlete, a scion of some noble
house.
It was said that after death the DanaYdes, with the exception
of Hypermncstra, were punished in Tartaros by having con-
tinually to carry water, and pour it in the vain endeavour of
filling a broken cistern. It may be that this form of punish-
ment was selected for them as the most suitable for women,
who generally in Greece were the drawers of water. At the
same time it was very suggestive of the dry parched soil of
Argos, the streams of which were always dried up in summer.
From Abas, the son of Hypermncstra and Lynkeus, sprang
the brothers Akrisios and Proetos, famous for their hatred
of each other from infancy onwards. When they had grown
up, Proetos, finding himself constantly defeated in the frater-
nal encounters, fled to Lycia, and was there hospitably re-
ceived by the king, lobates, and the queen, Amphianax,
whose daughter, Stheneboea, he married. With the assist-
ance of a Lycian army he was reinstated in his rights of sov-
ereignty over Argos and Corinth, fortifying himself in the
citadel of Tiryns, while his brother Akrisios held out in that
of Larisa. Of both citadels, the massive structures, now in
ruins, still bear witness to the fierce assaults which must have
been made upon them,
Proetos had three daughters, whose exceeding beauty made
them prizes which the noblest youth of the country sought to
win. But they were haughty, despised the common usages of
the times, scorned to take part in the worship of Dionysos,
and made ridicule of the sanctity of Hera's ancient image and
shrine. For this they were punished by a form of insanity
which drove them ever to wander restlessly among the woods
md hills of Argos and Arcadia. It is further said that, being
214 HEROES.
under the hallucination that they were cows, they lowed like
kine as they wandered about. The father summoned Melam-
pos, the prophet and priest, to work a cure upon his daughters,
but on the prophet's stipulating a third of the kingdom as his
reward, dismissed him again. The evil grew worse, for the
other women of the country began to yield to the infatuation
of abandoning their husbands and slaying their children.
Melampos was recalled, and this time demanded an additional
third of the kingdom for his brother, Bias. Proetos agreed,
and Melampos, collecting a body of active youths, pursued
the three princesses over the mountains, and on to Sikyon,
where the eldest of the three died, and the other two, after
being purified, were given in marriage to Melampos and Bias
respectively.
This legend also would seem to have originated in connec-
tion with the very ancient worship of Hera, as queen of the
heavens, at Argos ; the wanderings of the three daughters of
Proetos, under the imaginary form of cows, having reference,
like the similar wanderings of lo, to the moon.
Returning to Akrisios, we find him troubled at the prospect
of having no heir to his throne. To this question the oracle
at Delphi replied that a daughter would be born to him, and
that she would bear a son who would slay his grandfather, and
rule in his stead. The daughter, Danae by name, was born,
and to prevent the latter part of the oracle from being fulfilled,
she was imprisoned in a subterranean chamber. But a shower
of gold, sent by Zeus, penetrated to her, and she became the
mother of an infant destined to fulfil the oracle and to become
conspicuous among the ancient heroes. He was named
Perseus, probably with reference to his being a son of Zeus,
the great god of light, and to his having been born in dark-
DANAE. 215
ness, in which respect, as in several others, he may be com-
pared with Apollo, whose mother wa.s Leto (darkness), while
his father was Zeus. The shower of gold would thus signify
abeam of golden light.
Akrisios, hearing the voice of the child, summoned his
dauglitcr to the altar of Zeus to give a solemn explanation of
the circumstance. Disbelieving her story, he placed mother
and child in a closed box, and committed them to the waves.
After rocking about on the bosom of the sea, the box was at
last carried towards the island of Seriphos, and was there
caught in a net belonging to a fisherman named Diktys, who
took the waifs to his house, and acted kindly by them. It was
a very barren island, affording little but shelter to the families
of fishermen that inhabited it. The chief or king of it was
Polydektes, a brother of Diktys, just mentioned, and as
notorious for the gaiety of his habits as was his brother for
his simplicity. Struck with the beauty of Danae, and finding
that her son Perseus stood in the way of the fulfilment of his
desires, Polydektes became anxious to get rid of him, and
gladly availed himself of the opportunity that presented itself
when Perseus, not to be outdone in professions of loyalty,
vowed that he would even fetch the head of the Gorgon
Medusa for the king, should he wish it.
Perseus set forth sadly on his mission, but took courage
when Hermes and Athene, who often lent their aid in heroic
adventures, appeared to him, and led him to where the Graeae
lived, — three aged women, with only one eye and one tooth
in common. Perseus, seizing the indispensable eye and tooth,
refused to give them back until they told him where to find
the nymphs who had in keeping the helmet of Hades, the
winged shoes, and the pouch necessary for his future move-
2l6 HEROES.
ments. On arriving at where the nymphs lived, he obtained
from them the objects in question, to which Hermes added the
knife {harpe) with which he had cut off the head of Argos.
Buckling on the winged shoes, he proceeded towards tlie
Gorgons with the speed of a bird, the helmet of Hades making
him invisible, but concealing nothing from his sight. It is
further said that Athene instructed him how to approach
Medusa without being petrified, as was usual, by her stare.
To this end she gave him a shield of polished brass, onwhich,
as in a mirror, he could see the reflection of the Gorgon, while
he himself, unseen, advanced and cut off her head. The in-
stant he had done this there sprang from the trunk of Medusa
Pegasos, the winged horse, and Chrysaor, the father of Geryo-
neus. Perseus, placing the head quickly into the pouch which
the nymphs had given him, hastened from the scene, pursued
by the two sisters of Medusa for some distance.
Among his adventures on the way back to Seriphos were the
turning of Atlas into stone because the giant refused to receive
him hospitably, and the release of Andromeda, whom he
found, on passing over Ethiopia, bound to a rock on the sea-
shore as a victim to a great sea-monster. She was a daughter
of Kepheus and Kassiepeia, the king and queen of Ethio-
pia. The latter having vaunted herself equal in beauty to the
Nereids, gave offence to them and to Poseidon also, who
thereupon visited the country with a flood, and sent a dread-
ful monster from the sea to destroy both men and cattle. On
appealing to the oracle of Ammon in Libya, Kepheus was told
that the evil would not abate until he exposed his beautiful
daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. Compelled by his
subjects to yield, the luckless father took her to the shore, and
chained her to a rock, in the position in which Perseus found
PElifiEUS. 217
her. Struck with her beauty, Perseus undertook to save her
on condition that she should become his wife. Kepheus
agreed to this, and Perseus, after slaying the monster, un-
chained the maiden. She had, however, been engaged be-
forehand to Phineus, her father's brother, who, arriving
with a strong body of soldiers, burst in upon the marriage
feast. But the sight of the Gorgon's head turned them all to
stone, and Perseus triumphantly carried off his bride.
Arriving at Seriphos, he found that his mother and Diktys
were being persecuted by Polydektes, and obliged to seek pro-
tection at the altars of the gods. His course was to announce
his arrival to the king, who at once assembled his nobles to
witness how the young hero had kept his word. Perseus ap-
peared in the assembly, and producing the Gorgon's head,
turned the king and all his nobles instantly to stone. Not
content with punishing in this manner the principal persecu-
tors of his mother, Perseus is said to have turned the island
itself into a great barren rock, and to have spared only the
excellent Diktys and the fishing population attached to him.
Even the frogs of the island became dumb, said an ancient
proverb.
Having thus fulfilled his promise, and rescued his mother,
Perseus handed over the winged shoes, the pouch, and the
helmet that made him invisible, to Hermes, to be restored to
the nymphs. The head of Medusa he gave to Athene, who
ever after wore it on her shield. Accompanied by Danae and
Andromeda, he set out for Argos to find his grandfather,
Akrisios, who, however, in the meantime having left Argos in
consequence of an increasing dread lest the oracle should be
fulfilled regarding his death, had established himself at Larisa
in Thessaly. Thither Perseus proceeded, and found, on his
2l8 HEROES.
arrival, the king, Teutamias, occupied with public games in
honour of his deceased father. Perseus took part in the
games, and by a fatality which justified the oracle, the disc
whi^:h lie threw fell upon the foot of Akrisios, and caused his
death. After burying his grandfather honourably at Larisa,
Perseus returned to Argos to his mother and wife, but instead
of establisliing himself there, exchanged Argos for Tiryns,
which was then held by Megapenthes, a son of Prcetos,
and soon after founded the ancient Mykenae, with its massive
walls.
Perseus and Andromeda had two sons — Elektryon and
Alkseos. Alkmene, the mother of Herakles, was a daugh-
ter of the former, and her husband, Amphitryon, a son of
the latter. It was also said that before leaving the court of
her father, Kepheus, Andromeda had born a son, whom they
called Perses, and left behind with his grandfather. From
this Perses the Persian kings traced their lineage. The kings
of Pontos and Cappadocia, claiming the same descent, intro-
duced a figure of Perseus on their coins. In Tarsos and in
Egypt also were traditions of ancient benefits derived from
the Greek hero.
While the wanderings of lo remind us of the wanderings of
the moon, and lead us to connect the origin of the legends
concerning her with the worship of Hera at Argos, the adven-
tures of Perseus similarly suggest the apparent movement of
the sun, and the effect of his light, particularly in slaying the
dread monsters with which the imagination peoples darkness.
It would seem, therefore, that the origin of the belief in these
adventures must liave had some connection with the Argive
worship of Zeus and Athene.
His adventures, cither as an entire story or in parts, formed
SISYPHOS AND ASOPOS. 219
a most attractive subject to ancient poets, and were frequently-
represented in v/orks of art, many of which wc still possess.
One of the earliest examples of Greek sculpture to which an
approximate date can be assigned, is a group on a temple at
Selinus in Sicily, which represents him cutting off the Gor-
gon's head, and belongs to the seventh century B. c.
In Plate XXXI. he is figured holding the head of Medusa
in one hand and the curved sword in the other. In Plate
XXXII. is the rescue of Andromeda.
(^.) CORINTH.
Owing to its convenient situation on the isthmus between
two seas, Corinth was from very early times an important seat
of commerce ; and as such being chiefly dependent for its
prosperity on the benignity of the sea-god Poseidon, had at
an early period established his worship, and exalted him as its
principal god. In the legends concerning the Corinthian
heroes we would therefore expect to find decided traces of
this worship, just as in those of Argoswe found traces of the
early worship of Hera.
With regard to Sisyphos, the first of these heroes, the
legend was that he had chanced to see Zeus carrying off .^gina,
the daughter of the river-god Asopos, and having marked the
direction of their flight as towards the island of ^gina, de-
termined to make capital of his knowledge, by informing
Asopos of what he had seen, on condition that the river-god
would create a spring of water on the parched citadel of Co-
rinth— Acrocorinth, as it was Qalled. The terms were agreed
HEROES.
to, and Sisyphos at once secured the afterwards famous foun-
tain of Peirene. But Zeus could not permit the act of treach-
ery to pass unpunished. He sent the god or daemon of death
to claim him. Instead of yielding, Sisyphos bound the daemon
with strong chains, and retained him, no one dying in the
meantime, till Ares arrived and broke the chains. Sisyphos
was then handed over to the daemon, but before departing
charged his wife, Merope, not to offer the customary sacrifices
for the dead, and thus to disappoint Pluto and Persephone.
Arrived in Hades, he began to denounce this neglect on the
part of his wife, and repeated his complaint so often that he
was at last allowed to return to the upper world. Another
version of the story has it that Herakles carried him off by
force from Hades. In either case he returned to Corinth, lived
to an advanced age, and after death was punished, as we have
already related, by having to roll a huge stone up a height,
which when it had gained the summit immediately rolled back.
It may be that the idea of such a punishment was suggested
by the backward and forward rolling of stones by the treacher-
ous waves on the shore. At any rate we find a connection of
Sisyphos with the worship of Poseidon in the statement that
he, at the command of the Nereides, received the dead body
of Melikertes from his mother, and instituted in his honour
the Isthmian games, which afterwards were held in honour of
Poseidon.
More directly connected with the worship of the sea-god is
the legend of Glaukos, the son of Sisyphos. The reference
in his name to the colour of the sea is strengthened by the
title of Pontics which he bore, and yet it is not with the sea
directly, but with horses the accredited symbols of the waves,
that he is associated. For some reason — from having been fed
;jy
xxxn.
Bellerophon.
Perseus and Andromeda.
BELLEROPHON. 221
on human flesh, according to one report — his horses became
furious, and tore their master to pieces. In after times his
name was a terror to equestrians in the hippodromes, the cur-
rent belief being that Glaukos survived as an evil spirit wan-
dering about and frightening horses.
A figure of far greater importance than Glaukos in the
legendary history of Corinth, was his son Bellerophon.
Not that Corinth had been to any extent the scene of his ex-
ploits; for, except the incident of the bridling of Pegasos,
his memorable adventures were all conducted elsewhere — in
Argos at first, and afterwards in Lycia. His story was, more-
over, strangely blended with that of the Argive Perseus. It
may be that the proximity of the two towns, and the political
dependence of Corinth on Argos, wrought in time an assimi-
lation in the legends of two heroes originally quite distinct.
Or, on the other hand, it may be that the difference in the
pursuits and religious inclinations of the two towns acted on
the imagination in such a way as to alter a legend originally
common to both, so much that each might in time fairly claim
a separate hero of its own. Whichever way it may have been,
the Corinthians were proud of Bellerophon, and in early
times had a figure of his horse, Pegasos, on their coins.
With regard to that wonderful winged horse, we have already
related how it sprang from the neck of the Gorgon Medusa,
when Perseus cut her head off. The legend proceeds to tell
how it flew through the air, and did not set foot on earth until
it reached the citadel of Corinth, where it halted to quench
its thirst at the famous fountain of Peirene. Bellerophon,
after trying in vain to catch it, api)lied to the seer Polyidos
for advice, and was told to lay himself down to sleep at night
beside the altar of Athene. This he did, and in the course
2 22 HEROES.
of his sleep dreamed that the goddess came and gave him a
golden bridle, bidding him show it to his father, Poseidon, and
at the same time sacrifice a white ox to him. Waking, he found
the bridle, sacrificed the ox, and, on the advice of the seer,
dedicated an altar to Athene. The horse at once took the bit,
and from that time proved of the most service to its master.
According to the ancient derivation, the name of Bellero-
phon signifies the '^ slayer of Belleros," the story being that he
had accidentally caused the death of a person of that^iartie,
either his own brother, or a Corinthian noble. To obtain
the necessary purification, he repaired to Argos, and was there
kindly received by Prcetos, the reigning king. Unfortunately,
however, the wife of Proetos, Stheneboea (or, as Homer calls
her, Anteia), resembled Potiphar's wife in the bent of her
passions, and finding the young hero firm against her temp-
tations, resolved to accomplish his ruin, to this end charging
him before the king with an attempt to violate her. Proetos,
on hearing the charge, decided to send the youth to Lycia,
to the court of lobates, the father of Stheneboea, with a letter
written in strange characters, in which the Lycian king was
instructed to compass the death of the bearer. The parting
scene, where Bellerophon receives the letter, and Stheneboea
still gazes affectionately on him, is represented on several
ancient painted vases.
Arriving at the Lycian court, Bellerophon was entertained
hospitably for nine days. On the tenth day the king inquired
the business of his guest, and received the letter of Proetos.
Acting on the instructions of the letter, lobates despatched
him with orders to slay the Chimaera* (a monster composed
* It was represented in art as a lion with a goat's head springing from
BELLEROPHON. 223
cf a lion in front, a goat in the middle, and a serpent behind),
which infested the mountains, and slaughtered all who at-
tacked it. But Pegasos carried his master up in the air beyond
the reach of the monster, and yet not too far for his spear to
have deadly effect. (Plate XXXII.) Bellerophon returned
triumphant. Though his scheme had not succeeded, the king
had at any rate got rid of a terrible enemy to his subjects, and
determined a second time to profit by the prowess of the young
hero, if he should fail in causing his death. Accordingly he
sent him to fight against the Solymi, a hostile neighbouring
tribe, from which he again returned victorious. With like
success he fought against the Amazons, those warlike women
of Asia Minor, whom the ancient poets and artists delighted
to represent as fighting stoutly against the best heroes of
Greece, but always being vanquished. With this result they
opposed, for example, Herakles and Theseus, and afterwards,
in the Trojan war, took part against the Greeks. (See Plate
XXXIII.) It would seem from their connection with the
Ephesian Artemis, among other reasons, that the legends con-
cerning them originated in the worship of the moon goddess.
In a last effort to secure the death of Bellerophon, the
Lycian king planned an ambush for him of his bravest knights,
all of whom, when the time came, perished at the hands of
the hero, who, it then became clear, could be no other than
the son of a god. Instead of being put to further encounters,
he received the hand of the king's daughter in marriage, and
with her the half of the kingdom. The grateful Lycians
bestowed on him a large estate, well wooded and fitted for
its back. Tlic statement of its spitting fire may have reference to the vol-
canic features of Lycia.
224 HEROES.
agriculture. . His wife bore him three blooming children :
Isandros, Hippolochos, and Laodameia. In short, he
had reached the pinnacle of happiness. But the gods pre-
pared a catastrophe for him. He became insane, and wan-
dered about sad and alone, avoiding the company of men.
His son Isandros was slain by Ares, his daughter Laodameia,
by Artemis. According to another report, repeated success
in hazardous adventures had inflamed him with the desire to
mount to Olympos on the back of his wonderful horse. In
the attempt he fell to earth, smitten by the thunderbotfof
Zeus, and died.
(^.) THEBES.
It is a relief to turn from the bloodshed and perilous adven-
tures of the Corinthian and Argive heroes, to the comparatively
tranquil tone of the Theban legends, with all their variety of
character and incident. We would not be understood to say
that the tales of Thebes are free from horrors, but only that
the general impression left, especially by the earliest of them,
concerns the daring and achievements of mind rather than the
exploits of physical courage.
First among the heroes of Thebes is Kadmos, the founder
of the ancient city — the Kadmeia, as it was called — who, while
rendering important services to the population gathered round
him there in the management of their public affairs, is said to
have conferred on Greece generally an inestimable blessing in
the form of an alphabet, or means of communicating thoughts
in writing, previously unknown in that land. It is this
alphabet, more or less modified, that we still employ. That
he found the letters of it in use among the Phoenician traders
who visited Greece in remote early times, establishing factories
KADMOS. 225
in many places, — among others, in the neighbourhood of
Thebes, — is probable; but to' believe, as the Greeks did, that
Kadmos was a Phoenician by birth, and that the system of
civilization which he introduced was, like the alphabet, Phoe-
nician, was only another instance of the readiness with which
the Greeks listened to stories that traced the beginnings of
their civilization back to the influence of the more ancient
nations of the East.
The genealogy of Kadmos, according to the legend, com-
menced with the sea-god Poseidon and Libya, who had two
sons — Belos (Baal) and Agenor; the former becoming king
of Egypt, the latter of Phoenicia. By his wife, Telephassa,
Agenor had one daughter — Europa — and three sons, — Kad-
mos, Phoenix, and Kilix. The sister having disappeared —
carried off, it was said, on the back of a white bull, into which
Zeus had transformed himself for love of her — the brothers
were sent to search for her in different directions. Phoenix
and Kilix, wearied of searching in vain, settled down in the
countries named after them, while Kadmos, accompanied by
his mother, proceeded through the Greek islands northwards
to the coast of Thrace. There his mother died and was buried.
He proceeded to Delphi, to ask the oracle concerning his
sister. The advice was to search no longer, but to follow a cow
which should come in his way, and where it lay down to rest
there to found a city. Leaving Delphi, he saw a cow, and
followed it through Bocotia, till it reached the place where
Thebes M'as afterwards built, and there lay down. Intending
to sacrifice the cow in honour of Athene, his protecting
goddess, Kadmos sent his attendants to a fountain not far off
to fetch water. It happened, however, that the fountain was
watched by a terrible dragon, which killed his men. With
15
2 26 HEROES.
the aid of Athene, Kadmos slew the monster, and, at the com-
mand of the goddess, sowed its teeth in the ground, from
which there instantly sprang a number of wild armed giants,
called Spartae. By throwing a stone among them, Kadmos
so roused their passions that they fell upon each other with
such fury and effect that only five of them survived. From
these five the noblest families of Thebes afterwards traced their
lineage.
To appease Ares, whose dragon he had slain, Kadmos was
compelled to devote himself to the service of that god for^ight
years, or a ''long year" as it was called, the usual period
prescribed for penance in such cases. His term of service
having expired, he was raised by Athene to the throne of
Thebes ; and to complete his happiness Zeus gave him Har-
monia, the beautiful daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, for his
wife. The gods of Olympos went to the marriage feast, and
made presents to the pair. The Muses sang a marriage song.
The gift of Kadmos to his wife consisted of a splendid dress
(^peplos), which Athene had worked for him, and the famous
necklace made by Hephgestos. From the marriage sprang
four daughters, — Semele, Ino, Autonoe, Agaue, — and
one son, — Polydoros.
Autonoe married Aristaeos, to whom she bore Aktaeon,
the young huntsman who, for the misfortune of having once
seen Artemis bathing, was transformed into a stag, and de-
voured by his own hounds. Ino married Athamas, of whom
it is said that, being seized of a frenzy, he pursued his wife to
do her violence, and that she eluded him by leaping into the
sea, after which she was regarded as a marine goddess under
the name of Leukothea. Semele became the mother of the
wine-god Dionysos, and at the birth of her child was, as has
AMPHION AND ZETHOS. . 227
been already related, struck dead by the thunderbolt of Zeus.
Agaue, marrying Echion, one of the five surviving Spartae,
became the mother of Pentheus, who, after the death of
Polydoros, succeeded to the sovereignty of Thebes.
Semele being dead, her statement that Zeus himself was the
father of her child was disbelieved by her sisters, especially
by Agaue. But after her son Dionysos had grown up, and
returned to Thebes from his triumphant journey eastward to
India, Agaue and the other women of Thebes changed their
minds, and embraced his worship with its extravagant rites.
Pentheus, then king of Thebes, opposed the introduction of the
new religion, but in the course of his opposition'was slain by
his mother and her excited companions. Labdakos, the
son of Polydoros, succeeded to the throne. Meantime Agaue,
recovering her senses under the affliction, fled to Illyrium.
Grief at the calamities that fell so thickly on their children
at last drove Kadmos and Harmonia from Thebes. They
wandered to Illyrium, and there found peace in the grave.
Their bodies, it was believed, had been transformed into two
snakes that lay beside their tomb, while their spirits had been
placed in Elysion by Zeus.
After Kadmos, the next figures of importance are the twin-
brothers Amphion and Zethos, who resemble in many re-
spects the ** great tv>^in-brethren " Castor and Pollux, being like
them represented riding on white horses, and appearing with
aid in times of distress. Between the two brothers there was
a great difference of character, Amphion being devoted to
music, and excelling in the skill with which he played the lyre
given him by Hermes, while Zethos applied himself wholly to
rough life, such as hunting and herding. What Zethos did by
physical force, Amphion accomplished by the persuasion of his
2 28 HEROES.
Strains, as was shown in the case of their building the walls of
Thebes, the population of which had so far outgrown the limits
of the old town founded by Kadmos as to require new barriers
against invasion. While Zethos toiled in bringing huge stones
for this purpose, Amphion, like Orpheus, had only to strike his
lyre, and still larger stones followed whither he led the way.
Such was the story, the intention of which seems to have
originally been to point to the combination of actual strength
With harmony in placing the blocks required in good masonry.
The same idea recurs in the legend of the building of-the
Trojan walls by Apollo and Poseidon, the former god corres-
ponding to Amphion and the latter to Zethos. The seven
gates of Thebes answered to the seven strings of the lyre.
The mother of the two Theban brothers was Antiope, who,
according to an early report, was a daughter of the river-god
Asopos. In the usual genealogy, however, she was described
as a daughter of Thebe and Nykteus (the ''dark and
stormy"), who held the office of regent in Thebes during the
minority of Labdakos. Zeus having approached Antiope in
the form of a Satyr, she was driven from her father's house,
and forced to seek refuge, which she found with Epopeus,
the king of Sikyon. Under his protection she remained some
time, the father meanwhile demanding in vain that she should
be given up to him. Ultimately she was given up to Lykos
("light ") the brother of Nykteus, but, as his name implies, of
quite an opposite character. Returning with him, she gave
birth to twin boys on the way, in the neighbourhood of
Eleutherae. The infants were entrusted to a herdsman to be
brought up. The mother was carried off to Thebes, where, as
a contrast to the gentle treatment she had experienced from
Lykos, she was subjected by his wife, Dirke, to relentless
CEDIPOS. 229
cruelty. After enduring continued persecution for some years,
Antiope fled from Thebes, and taking the direction of Mount
Kithseron, where her children had been left, at last reached
the house of the herdsman who had taken care of them. She
did not, however, recognize him, nor was she aware that the
two youths, who took kindly to her, were her sons. It
happened just then that Dirke, who had come to Mount
Kitha^ron to take part in some Bacchic ceremony, detected
her escaped victim, and ordered the two young herdsmen to
fetch a wild bull from their herd, and to bind her to its horns,
that she might be dragged to death. They would have obeyed
her command, had not the old herdsman at the moment
recognized Antiope, and revealed her as their mother. On
hearing the story of her former troubles, Amphion and Zethos,
in their indignation, seized Dirke, bound her to the bull
which they had brought, and looked on while she perished
miserably. The legend adds that Dirke was transformed into
a fountain, which bore her name.
On the return of Antiope with her sons to Thebes, Lykos
abdicated in their favour, and then commenced the building
of the walls, of which we have already spoken. Amphion
married Niobe, the daughter of the Lydian king Tantalos,
and had a family of sons and daughters, whose beauty, in their
mother's eyes, might measure with that of Apollo and Artemis.
How she was punished for her pride has already been related.
After the death of Amphion and Zethos, caused, it was said,
by the arrows of Apollo, the sovereignty of Thebes finally
passed to Labdakos, of whose reign little is said, his fame
consisting chiefly in his being the father of Laios and grand-
father of CEdipos.
This Laios married Jokaste, a daughter of Menoikeus, and
230 HEROES.
had by her a son, CEdipos. An oiacle had said that the child,
on growing to manhood, would cause the death of his father.
To avert this danger, Laios exposed the newly-born infant on
Mount Kithseron, expecting it to perish. It was, however,
found by some herdsmen, conveyed by them to Corinth, and
there given over to the king, Polybos, whose wife was child-
less, and took readily to the castaway. Arriving at years of
manhood, CEdipos inquired at an oracle concerning his paren-
tage, and was told in reply to avoid the lands of his ancestors,
for otherwise he would cause his father's death, and thereafter
marry his own mother. Puzzled by an answer so mysterious,
and being uncertain whether Polybos might not have been his
father, he left the court at Corinth, and wandered about the
country. In the course of his wanderings he met Laios tra-
velling with a retinue. A quarrel arose between CEdipos and
some of the royal attendants. Laios took the part of his men,
and was slain in the fight by his son, who, unaware of the
blackness of the crime he had committed, proceeded on his
way to Thebes. There he found great distress prevailing, in
consequence of the loss of life caused by a Sphinx — a mon-
ster with the body of a lion, and the head, breast, and arms
of a woman. This creature had a riddle which she propounded
to all who approached her, and on their failing to resolve it,
as always happened, threw them from the high rock where she
lived. Not so CEdipos, who read the riddle rightly; upon
which the Sphinx cast herself from the rock, and perished.
The prize offered to the man who should succeed in getting
rid of the Sphinx was the hand of Jokaste, the widow of Laios,
along with the throne of Thebes. CEdipos married her, and
fulfilled the oracle.
They had two sons, Eteokles and Polyneikes, and two
THESSALY. 23 1
daughters, Antigone and Ismene, neither being aware of
the criminality of ihcir marriage, \mtil, on inrjiiiring at tlie
oracle the cause of certain misfortunes that had befallen the
country, they received an answer which revealed the facts in
all their horror, Jokaste slew herself, while CEdipos, after
putting out his eyes, forsook Thebes, and wandered about
accompanied by his faithful daughter, Antigone. His two
sons succeeded him in the government, quarrelled with each
other, however, and ultimately fell, both of them, in a personal
encounter, as we shall relate afterwards.
The various acts of this terrible tragedy were reproduced on
tlie Athenian stage with all the poetic power of ^schylus and
Sophocles.
(y.) THESSALY.
In hnrmony with tlic wild, rocky features of the country,
the early legends of Thessaly tell of furious wars, in which the
combatants fought with trunks of trees, or hurled rocks and
even hills at each other. It was there that the war of the gods
against the Giants and Titans took place. There the brothers
Otos and Ephialtes heaped hill on mountain in their ambition
to scale the heavens. There Poseidon cleft the mountain-
range asunder with his trident, and formed the pleasant vale
of Tempe. Mount Olympos, with its clouded summit, where
the gods were once supposed to dwell, was there, and there
also was lolkos, the seat of the ancient race of the Minyae.
Gryton was the hold of the Lapithae, and the scene of those
combats between them and thu Centaurs which formed in
after times so attractive a subject to Greek sculptors.
Among the Lapitlux the two ])rincipal figmres are Ixion
and his son Peirithoos. Ixion's wife was Dia, a daughter
HEROES.
of Deioneus. Previous to the marriage he had promised her
father, according to ancient usage, many valuable presents,
which he afterwards refused to give. Deioneus endeavoured
to indemnify himself, but in the course of the attempt per-
ished in a great hole, full of fire, which had been cunningly
prepared for him by Ixion. For this — the first murder of a
relation, it was believed, that had taken place in the world—
Ixion was punished with frenzy, and wandered about, unable
to obtain expiation from gods or men, till at last Zeus received
him compassionately, and purified him. But the purification
was not so complete as to prevent him from conceiving a
passion for the goddess Hera, who, knowing his desires, de-
ceived him with a cloud shaped like herself. From this union
sprang the race of Centaurs. Ixion, being blind enough to
boast of his supposed success with Hera, was despatched by
Zeus to Tartaros, and there bound by Hermes to a winged
wheel, which constantly revolved, as an eternal example of
the punishment due to such crime.
The same passion for a goddess descended to his son Peiri-
thoos, who tried to carry off Persephone from Hades, for which
he was placed in chains in Tartaros. But the event on which
his fame chiefly turns was his marriage with Deidamia. By
his invitation, the Centaurs of the neighbouring mountains
went to the banquet, and, being unused to the influence of
wine, could not suppress excitement. The wild Eurytion
laid hold of the bride, his fellows rushed towards her maidens,
and a scene of grand confusion took place ; Peirithoos and
the Lapithae, with the help of his friend Theseus, from
Attica, at last succeeding in driving the Centaurs away.
Of Kaineus, another of the Lapithai, it is related that,
having been originally a beautiful virgin, she was changed into a
THRACE. 233
man by Poseidon, and made invulnerable, as was proved in a
fight with the Centaurs; for, in spite of the rocks and trunks
of trees wliich they struck him with, and heaped above him,
he remained unwounded, and sank into the earth alive, — a
scene represented in several ancient works of sculpture and
vase-painting still in existence.
With regard to the Centaurs, the usual form in which they
were represented was that of the body and legs of a horse, with
the head, arms, and body of a man down to the waist. In
early works of art, however, they have the legs of a man in
place of the forelegs of the horse.
Cheiron seems to have had nothing in common with them
but his form ; for he was wise and just, well-meaning and kindly,
a friend of gods and heroes, and skilled in medicine, music,
and various arts. The young Achilles was brought up under
his care and tuition, in the cave where he lived, on Mount
Pelion. So also were Jason and Asklepios. He was the
friend of Peleus and of Herakles, and his death was an exam-
ple of the self-sacrifice which had characterized his life. In
trying to make peace between Herakles and the Centaurs, he
had been accidentally hit by a poisoned arrow from the bow
of Herakles. The wound baffling all his skill, and causing
acute pain, he offered himself to die in the room of Prometheus,
and was accepted by the gods.
(c) THRACE.
The burden of all the early Thracian legends is the strange
divine influence of music and song. Whether the passion for
music, which may be supposed to have given rise to the
legends, originated among the ungenial northern hills and
234
HEROES.
valleys of Thrace, or whether, as is supposed, it was trans-
planted thither by immigrants from the district of Pieria,
with its ancient fountain of the Muses, it would be hard to
decide. All that is certain is, that the belief concerning
Orpheus, the principal figure in these legends, was common
to both regions.
Orpheus was regarded as a son of the muse Kalliope and
the god Apollo. From his mother he inherited the fascinating
power with which he played the lyre and sang, so that the
birds of the air, the fish in the streams, wild beasts, even trees,
rocks, and hills, gathered round him to listen. The subject
of his song was always the beautiful Eurydike, whom he had
loved and lost. She had died through the poisoned bite of a
snake that lurked in the grass over which she had to run to
escape from Aristseos , who also loved her. Her sister nymphs,
accompanied by Orpheus, wandered over the hills and valleys,
filling the air with plaintive strains to call her back again.
Orpheus carried his search for her even down to the gloomy
shades of the lower world, the sweetness of his music soothing
the monsters and wicked spirits that dwell there, and otherwise
would have resisted his progress. Even the hardened hearts
of Persephone and the merciless Erinys were touched by his
passionate grief. It was agreed that Eurydike should be per-
mitted to return with him to the upper world, — the only con-
dition attached to the agreement being that he should not turn
to look upon her face all the way back. His patience, however,
gave way. The bargain became null, and Eurydike must in-
stantly retrace her steps, and b'e lost to him for ever. For seven
months he sat in doleful mood by the banks of the river
Strymon, under the open sky, refusing food or drink. Then
he withdrew to the higher wintry regions of the mountains
ORPHEUS. 235
Rhodope and H?emos, to nurse his sorrow in greater solitude,
but was discovered by a band of Maenads out upon some wild
Bacchic mission, and torn by them limb from limb. The
Muses, it was said, gathering the limbs, c'onveyed them to
Pieria, on Mount Olympos, and buried them there. His head
and lyre floated down the Hebros, and were carried by the sea,
the lyre sounding sweetly with the swell and fall of the waves,
to the island of Lesbos, celebrated in after times for its poets
and musicians. There the head was buried, and nightingales
sang sweeter beside it than elsewhere in Greece. But in Thrace
also a tomb was pointed out as being that of Orpheus, while
a sanctuary was established in his honour.
In later times a religious system with mysterious rites and
ceremonies, said to have been instituted by Orpheus, and bear-
ing his name, was widely propagated in Greece. It may be
that his connection with the worship of Dionysos, referred to
in the legends both of Pieria and Thrace, was regarded as
sufficient warrant for associating with his name religious in-
stitutions having much in common with the Dionysiac myste-
ries.
It is said that Orpheus accompanied the expedition of the
Argonauts, but at what period of his life we do not know.
To the same region of Thrace belongs the legend of Tha-
myris, a son of the king Philammon and the nymph
Argiope, distinguished for his personal beauty as well as his
minstrelsy. He was, however, inordinately vain, and on the
occasion of a visit to the court of Eurytos, at Gi^chalia,
boasted himself not inferior to the Muses themselves, the
daughters of Zeus. But on his way homeward he was met by
them ; they put his eyes out, and took away his power of song
and music.
236 HEROES.
(/:) ATTICA.
The people of Attica, generally speaking, believed that their
first ancestors had sprung from the earth, and by some process
been transformed from trees or rocks, or perhaps from animals,
into men and women. The change was not supposed to have
been direct and instantaneous, as we may infer from the form
ascribed to Kekrops, the first of the race, which was that of
a man with extremities in the shape of snakes in place of hu-
man legs. In later times of learned speculation this Kekrops
was thought to have been an immigrant from Egypt. Proofs
of an early immigration into Attica are certainly not wanting,
but they do not point to Egypt as the source of it. They
point to Crete, which in the time of Minos held Attica, as
it probably held other places, as a dependency.
Kekrops according to the legend, ruled as king over the
primitive race of Attica, established himself on the Acropolis
of Athens, and gathered a township round him, which he
called Kekropia. He gave his people laws, and taught them
to worship Zeus and Athene-Polias. It was during his reign
that the celebrated contest took place between Poseidon and
Athene for the control of Attica. Kekrops was chosen to de-
cide, and, arguing that the sea was common to all, while the
olive was peculiarly adapted to the soil of his country, gave
his decision in favour of the goddess. He had three daugh-
ters,— Herse, Aglauros, and Pandrosos, — all three names
apparently referring to the fertilizing fall of dew. The last
mentioned was the first priestess of Athene, Of the other two,
Herse became the mother of Keryx, from whom the priestly
family of heralds in Attica derived their lineage. His father
was Hermes, the divine herald. Aglauros bore a daughter to
ATTICA.
the god Ares. Her name was Alkippe, and her story, that
she loved Halirrhotios, a son of Poseidon, and was slain by
Ares. For that crime a court called the Areopagus was
appointed to try the god, and continued thereafter to sit on
cases of murder.
The successor of Kekrops was Erichthonios, who was
described as being altogether of the form of a snake. He was
the offspring of Hephaestos and Gaea, was the fondling of
Athene, and when he obtained the throne of Attica, taught his
people to worship the ancient wooden image of the goddess,
and instituted in her honour the famous Panathenaic games.
The story of his infancy was that Athene handed him in a
closed box to the three daughters of Kekrops, with orders not
to open it. Two of the sisters, Herse and Aglauros, yielded
to curiosity, opened the box, and on seeing a snake within,
were seized with frantic terror and threw themselves from the
rocks of the Acropolis. Erichthonios was brought up within
the sanctuary of the goddess.
Erichthonios was succeeded by his son Pandion, and he
again by his son Erechtheus, with whom the dynasty of the
line of Kekrops came to an end, passing over to Ion, a reputed
son of Apollo, and the ancestor of the Ionian race. Erech-
theus and all his family perished in a battle against Eumol-
pos, the prince of Eleusis. The result of their death, however,
was that the old strife between Attica and Eleusis was put an
end to, and the two kingdoms united in one.
Besides his son Erechtheus, Pandion had two daughters,
Prokne and Philomela, of whom a touching story is told.
It would seerrx that in the course of a war with Labdakos of
Thebes, Pandion had obtained important assistance from
Tereus, a king of Thrace, and for this offered him the hand
23S HEROES.
of his daughter Prokne. Afterwards the Thracian desired her
sister also, and, pretending that Prokne was dead, obtained
Philomela as his wife. To prevent the former from revealing
the truth, he.tore out her tongue, and placed her in a cage in a
wood. But his end was not thus gained ; for Prokne con-
trived to send her sister a piece of draper}- on which she had
embroidered a representation of the facts, which her sister
readily understood. The two sisters then combined to exe-
cute a terrible revenge on Tereus, placing the flesh of his son
Itys, whom they killed, before him as a dish. Tereus drew
his sword, and pursued the sisters till all three were changed
into birds — he into a lapwing, Prokne into a swallow, and
Philomela into a nightingale. The Latin poets reversed the
stor}- of the two sisters, sapng that it was Philomela whose
tongue was cut out, their object being, since her name is the
same as that of the nightingale, to account for the silence of
that bird except in the springtime.
The Attic legend of Boreas, the wind-god, who carried off
Oreithyia, has already been given, as has also that of Keph-
alos and Prokris. We shall therefore pass on to Ion, who,
when the male line of Kekrops had become extinct, succeeded
to the throne of Attica.
Ion was a son of Apollo and Kreusa, a daughter of Erech-
theus, and at his birth was taken away from his mother, who
afterwards married Xuthos, and remained childless. Going
to Delphi to consult the oracle about their prospects of pos-
terity, Xuthos and Kreusa were told by the god to adopt as
their son the first youth they should meet. This happened to
be Ion, who had been brought up in the temple of Delphi,
and who, agreeably to the command of the god, was adopted
by the childless pair.
CRETE. 239
According to another legend, Pandion was driven froni
Attica by the sons of Metion, and took refuge with Pylos,
the king of Megara, where he found and adopted ^geus, who,
after Pandion's death, advanced upon Attica, and, with the
assistance of his brothers, Pallas, Nisos, and Lykos, recovered
the kingdom of his adopted father, reigned in Athens, and
became the father of the renowned hero, Theseus, whose
exploits we shall relate hereafter.
ig.) CRETE.
The position of the island of Crete, its extent and fertility,
appear to have attracted the early Phoenician traders to its
shores. They founded the towns of Knosos and Gortys, and
so develop)ed the resources of the island as to give it a power-
ful ascendency over the other islands of the Archipelago, and
extending to various districts of the mainland of Greece,
including Attica, as has just been said. They introduced
the worship of Astarte and Moloch ; and when, generations
afterwards, the island had become completely Hellenized,
through the successive immigrations of Achseans and Dorians,
there were still found current among the people legends that
could only be explained in connection with the religion of
the Phoenicians. Of this kind were the legends of Talos,
Itanos, and the river Jardanos. The Greek immigrants
settled in the towns that had been planted by the Phoenicians,
adapting themselves to existing arrangements, it appears, and
accepting the ancient traditions of the island as a basis for
legends of a purely Greek construction.
These legends commence with Europa, whom Zeus saw
and loved while she was gathering spring buds near Sidon,
240 HEROES.
where her father, Agenor (or Phoenix, as some said), was king.
The god, transforming himself into a white bull, carried her off
on his back over the sea towards the south coast of Crete, and
landed with her in the district of Gortys and Phsestos, where
Asterion was then the reigning king. Europa gave birth
there to three sons, — Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpe-
don, — who grew up under the care of Asterion, to whom
Zeus had commended their mother. How familiar the people
of the island must have been with the various phases of this
legend, may be seen from the ancient coins of Gortys'and
Phaestos, with their representations, now of a bull alone, now
of Europa riding on him, and at other times of Europa seated
among the branches of a plane-tree.
The oldest traditions describe Minos as ruling the island
with exemplary justice, extending its maritime power and its
supremacy over the neighbouring islands and countries. He
established among his people a wise system of laws, which
formed, it was believed, in after times, the basis of the legis-
lation of Lykurgos. These laws, he said, were communicated
to him by his father, Zeus, with whom he went every ninth
year to hold communion in a sacred cave in the island.
So high was his reputation for justice, that when he died,
so people thought, he was appointed a judge in the lower
world.
The wife of Minos was Pasiphae, a daughter of the sun-
god Helios and Perseis. It is necessary to bear her parent-
age in mind for the sake of obtaining a right clue to the
explanation of the legend concerning her. For, as a daughter
of Helios and Perseis, she may well have been originally a
goddess of the moon, and as such represented under the form
of a white cow. Her name, Pasiphae, would be appropriate
MINOS AND PASIPHAE. 241
for such an office. She bore to Minos two daughters — Ariad-
ne and Phaedra — of whom more will be told hereafter.
Minos, it was said, on being chosen king of the island,
proceeded to the sea-shore to offer, in presence of his people,
a sacrifice to his father, Zeus, calling on the sea-god Poseidon
to send up a victim for that purpose from the sea. Poseidon
heard, and sent a shimmering white bull. In this act of
compliance on the part of the sea-god, Minos perceived that
his supremacy at sea was secured. Instead, however, of sac-
rificing the white bull, he placed it among his own herd which
browsed near Gortys — a herd which is elsewhere said to have
belonged to the sun-god. Poseidon, taking offence at the
deceit, caused the bull to become wild, and at the same time
inflamed the queen, Pasiphae, with an unnatural desire towards
it. The bull broke from his stall, and was pursued by Pasiphae
over hills and through woods, till finally the great artist
Daedalos succeeded in holding him to the meadow, and in
satisfying the desires of the queen, who afterwards gave birth
to Minotauros, a creature with the body and limbs of a man,
and the head of a bull. Dcxdalos had now to employ his skill
in making a vast labyrinth, with intricate winding passages,
from which no one who entered could find his way out.
Within it Minotauros was placed, and received as victims the
persons sent to Minos periodically by tributary states. Such
tribute, consisting of seven boys and seven girls of noble
families, Minos had levied on Athens as a satisfaction for the
murder of his son Androgeos by ^geus, the king of Attica.
Every eight years the grievous levy was despatched to Crete,
till Theseus, the son of ^geus, put an end to it in a manner
which we shall afterwards have occasion to relate.
Minos met his death at Agrigentum, in Sicily, whither he
16
242 HEROES.
had pursued Daedalos, who had escaped from the labyrinth,
into whicli he and his son Ikaros had been thrown for making
a figure of a cow for Pasiphae, so lifelike as to be mistaken by
the herd. He had escaped by means of wings which he had
made for himself and his son. The latter fell into the sea, and
was drowned, while his father, reaching Sicily in safety, wa;i
received under the protection of King Kokalos, whose daughter
killed Minos by pouring boiling water on his head while he was
in a bath. Minos was buried there, and had a tomb erected
m his memory.
On the coins of the town of Ph?estos is the figure of a youth,
winged and nude, rushing with great strides, and holding what
appears to be a stone in each hand. This figure has been
identified with the legends of Talos, who is described as
having been made of bronze, a remnant of the bronze age, or,
as others said, a living work of art produced by Hephsestos.
He had been placed in Crete by Zeus, to watch over Europa,
his duty being to run round the island three times a day, and
see who landed on the coast. When the Argonauts arrived,
he opposed their landing, but unsuccessfully ; for it happened
that they were aware of the fact that, though apparently alto-
gether made of bronze, he still had a vein reaching from neck
to heel, and containing his life-blood. This vein Poeas, the
father of Philoktetes, managed to hit with an arrow from the
famous bow of Herakles. Talos fell, and died. Others said
that Medea, who accompanied the Argonauts, overcame him
by witchcraft. It had been the practice of Talos, when he
caught any one landing on the coast, to seize his victim in his
arms, to leap with him into a fire, and press him to his burning
bosom, the while laughing at the pain. This was the origin
of the phrase "Sardonic laughter."
PELOPS.
243
Though the appointment of Rhadamanthys as a judge in
the lower world was said to have been due to the sense of jus-
tice wliich he had displayed on earth, the region or ccTuntry
that benefited by his decisions is not given. It may be right
to assume that he acted with his brother Minos in Crete.
Sarpedon, the third of the brothers, passed over to Lycia,
and there became the founder of an illustrious line of heroes.
{h.) ELIS AND ARGOS.
With Pelops commences a lineage of heroes famous in
Elis and Argos for their deeds of violence, and for the retribu-
tion that awaited them. How Niobe, the sister of Pelops, was
punished for her pride, we have already seen. What his father,
Tantalos, had to endure in Tartaros has also been described.
Tantalos had ruled his kingdom of Phrygia, in Asia Minor,
well, and on that account ga.ined the esteem of the gods, who
invited him to a banquet. But he betrayed their secrets, and, to
crown all, invited them to a feast, at which, to test their power
of knowing all things that happened, he set before them the flesh
of his own son Pelops. The gods, perceiving the outrageous
attempt, restored the child to life, giving him in place of the
shoulder that had been eaten, whether by Demeter or Thetis,
a shoulder of ivory. His father was despatched to Tartaros.
When Pelops had grown to manhood under the care of the
gods — especially of Poseidon, from whom he learned his skill
in managing horses — he resolved to win Hippodameia, the
daughter of the king of Elis, CEnomaos, a son of Ares, and
the owner of horses swift as the wind. The story was that
CEnomaos had been informed by an oracle that his death
would be caused by the husband of his daughter. Trusting to
244 HEROES.
the extraordinary speed of his horses, he freely offered his
daughter's hand to any suitor who should outstrip him in a
chariot race. Those who failed, it was stipulated in the
challenge, should perish at his hands. This fate had befallen
many an ardent suitor previous to the arrival of Pelops, who,
with a golden chariot and winged horses, given him by
Poseidon, won the race. It is said, however, that his success
was rather due to Hippodameia, who had conceived a great
love for the youth, and gave practical effect to her passion by
bribing her father's charioteer, Myrtilos, to take a spoke t>ut
of his master's wheel.
With the hand of Hippodameia, Pelops obtained the throne
of Elis, and had, among other children, two sons, named
Atreus and Thyestes. He established, or at least greatly
promoted, the Olympian games. His grave, the house of
Q^nomaos, and other monuments of his excellent rule, were
afterwards gratefully pointed to at Olympia.
Atreus and Thyestes, having slain the beautiful young
Chrysippos, a son of Pelops and a nymph, were compelled to
leave Elis. They found refuge in Mykenae, establishing them-
selves in the old fort of Midea, until the death of Eurystheus,
when Atreus obtained the government of Mykenae, the ruins
of which still attest the power of its ancient kings. Atreus
married a daughter of Minos — ^rope — who allowed herself
to listen to proposals from Thyestes, and assisted him to carry
off the ram with the golden fleece, the possession of which was
supposed to secure the government of the country. But Zeus
interfered in the cause of Atreus, the elder of the brothers,
and, as a sign of his will, caused the sun to rise in the west.
Thyestes returned to his brother's house, asking to be forgiven,
and was received with an appearance of good-will. Instead
HERAKLES. 245
of being forgiven, however, he was presented, on sitting down
to eat, with the flesh of his own son. Thyestes fled in horror,
and thereupon famine stalked over the land. On consulting an
oracle with regard to the famine, Atreus was told to find
Thyestes, and take him back. He did so, and moreover
placed him in confinement in Argos, at the same time trying
to persuade ^gisthos, the son of Thyestes, to kill his father.
But events took a different course, Thyestes preferring to make
a victim of Atreus. On the death of Atreus, Agamemnon
succeeded to the throne of Argos, and his brother Menelaos
to that of Sparta. Of these two brothers more shall be said
in connection with the war against Troy.
HERAKLES.
(plate XXX.)
Though regarded sometimes as a god, and honoured in the
way appointed for immortals, it was chiefly as the hero of a
long series of arduous labours, difficulties apparently insur-
mountable, and sufferings, that Herakles obtained the numer-
ous honours paid to his memory throughout Greece. In the
gymnasia, where the youth of every town were instructed in
athletic exercises, the statue of Herakles was pointed to as a
model of what a perfect athlete should be; while the tales of
his wrestling with this or that giant were repeated as examples
of fearlessness and extraordinary strength. Soldiers going to
battle thought of his fatigues and ultimate triumphs. Labour-
ers oppressed by toil relieved their sorrows by recalling the
laborious incidents of his life. Even the Athenians valued the
rugged, stubborn endurance of Herakles higher than the lithe-
ness and more perfect form of their own Theseus. So far.
246 HEROES.
Herakles was looked upon merely as an example of extraordi-
nary physical strength and patient toiling to the end ; but in
later times he ca.me also to be held up as an ideal of virtue
and duty, in which capacity a story invented by the sophist
Prodikos concerning him, found great applause. That story
was entitled '' The Choice of Herakles," and represented him
as being met at a crossway, while yet a youth, by two figures
— Pleasure and Duty — the one promising him all possible en-
joyments, the other a life of labour and trouble, if he would
follow her. He chose to follow Duty.
According to the genealogy, Herakles was a son of Zeus
and Alkmene, the wife of Amphitryon, a descendant of
Perseus, and resident in Thebes. On the day on which he
was to have been born, Hera, to whose persecution all the
labours and sufferings of Herakles in after life were due, ob-
tained from Zeus, in presence of the assembled gods, a vow
that the boy to be born on that day should have power and
dominion over all that dwelt about him. Hastening to Argos,
she lent a helping hand to the wife of Sthenelos, and enabled
her to give birth to Eurystheus, a weakly seven-months' child.
Meantime she had delayed the birth of Herakles, who, in
consequence, became the subject of Eurystheus. With all
this hostility on the part of Hera, it is curious to compare a
scene which not unfrequently occurs on ancient painted vases,
representing Hera sucking the infant Herakles. The story
was that Hermes, at the command of Zeus, had carried the
newly-born child to Olympos, and put it to Hera's breast,
without her knowing whose child it was. From this divine
milk Herakles drew his godlike strength, the first promise of
which was given soon after his birth, by his strangling the
serpent sent by Hera to kill him.
HKRAKLES. 247
His youth was spent under the instruction of the most cele-
brated heroes of the day, the wise Rhadamanthys teaching
him to be wise and virtuous, and Linos the practice of music.
Unluckily, Linos had to punish him for some neglect, and in
doing so enraged the boy so much, that he turned and slew his
master. For this Amphitryon carried his son away to the
hills, and left him under the care of herdsmen, with whom,
like Romulus, or Amphion and Zethos, he enjoyed a wild life
of hunting and exposure to climate, his limbs growing to enor-
mous size, and his eyes sparkling with unusual fire. At the
age of eighteen he slew an enormous lion that infested Mount
Kithaeron, destroying the flocks of his father, Amphitryon, and
of Thespios, the king of Thespiae. Returning to Thebes from
the lion-hunt, and wearing its skin hanging from his shoulders
as a sign of his success, he met the heralds of the king of the
Minyae, coming from Orchomenos to claim the annual tribute
of a hundred cattle levied on Thebes. Herakles cut off the
ears and noses of the heralds, bound their hands, and sent
them home. A war followed, in which Amphitryon and his
two sons, Herakles and Iphikles, did wonders on the part of
Thebes, and were duly honoured for the same.
But the part taken by Herakles in that war was the last act
of his own free will ; for Hera, annoyed at the fast-rising fame
of the young hero, persuaded Eurystheus to exercise the au-
thority given him at his birth by Zeus, and to call on Hera-
kles to enter his service. Herakles inquired at the Delphic
oracle whether it was possible to escape the summons, but was
told in reply that he must carry out successfully twelve tasks
to be imposed on him by Eurystheus, and that, having done
so, he would be reckoned among the number of immor-
tals. With this answer in his mind, he presented himself to
248 HEROES.
Eurystheus at Mykenae, and commenced the serious labour
of life.
The Twelve Labours of Herakles.
It may be, as has been often suggested, that the legend of
the labours of Herakles, like those of Perseus in the service of
Polydektes, or of Bellerophon in that of the Lycian king, or
of Siegfried in that of the king of Burguady, was intended to
convey an illustration of the course and operations of the^n.
His first labours are performed near home, the distance from
which increases with each new labour that is imposed, till at
last, after carrying off the golden apples of the Hesperides in
the remote west, he descends to the lower world, and brings
back with him the hated dog Cerberus. In later times the
twelve labours were openly brought into connection with the
twelve signs of the zodiac. It is, however, more likely that,
originally, this number had no more signification than in the
case of the twelve higher deities of Olympos, that it was
adopted by the poets, such as Pisander and Stesichoros, who
first made these labours their theme, and that through their
influence it became stereotyped both in poetry and art. In
Homer, though the labours are known, there is no mention
of their number. In the Iliad (v. 395) Herakles is the hero
whose unerring arrows wounded Hera and Hades. In the
Odyssey (viii. 224) Herakles and Eurytos are described as
the most celebrated marksmen of bygone times; and in early
works of art, it is his character as a bowman that is principally
represented. But after the time of Pisander and Stesichoros,
a change is introduced. The club becomes his favourite wea-
I)on ; and instead of a linen garment wrapped round his loins.
THE TWKIAK lAIiOURS OF IIKRAKI.ES. 249
he now appears either carrying the skin of the Nemean lion
over his arm, or wearing it hanging down his back — the skin
of its head fitting to liis crown like a cap, and the fore-legs
knotted under his chin.
1. The Nemcaii lion, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna,
had been sent by Hera to devastate the neighbourhood of
Nemea, and had succeeded, to the horror of the natives. What
made the matter worse, was that the plain of Nemea was sacred
to Zeus. The lion was known to be invulnerable, — proof even
against the arrows of Herakles. It was therefore necessary to
adopt novel means for its destruction. Herakles entered the
cave where its lair was, closed the entrance behind him, and at
once grappling the monster in his arms strangled it. The skin
he tore off with his fingers, and, knowing it to be impenetrable,
resolved to wear it henceforth in his own defence. To the
legend as it thus stands was added, by the Alexandrian and
Roman poets, the story of Molorchos, a native of the district,
on whom Herakles called on his way to the cave, and who,
when about to kill his only goat to make a feast for his guest,
was told by the hero to desist and to wait his return. It
was arranged that should he not return within thirty days
Molorchos was to sacrifice to him as to a dead person. The
thirty days had just elapsed when Herakles returned and found
his friend in the act of preparing the sacrifice. It is possible
that the thirty days may refer to the period of greatest heat
in summer, when the lion and dog are ascendant.
2. The Lerii can hydra, tA^o the offspring of Typhon and
Echidna, and sent by Hera. Herakles killed it with his sword,
being assisted in the enterprise by lolaos and Athene. The
legend is given more fully by Apollodonis, whose version,
though late, is proved to have been founded on an earlier form
5°
HEROES.
of it by the remains of poetry and art of high antiquity. The
hydra-sNdjf> a monster with nine heads, of which eight were mor-
tal and the ninth invulneral)le. It lived in the marshy ground
beside the fountain of Amymone, and even the smell which
spread from its poison was fatal to any one who passed near it.
Herakles arrived at the spot in a chariot, attended by lolaos,
and succeeded in driving the hydra from its hole by firing his
arrows in upon it. The fight began, and Herakles found that
for every head of it which he cut two fresh heads started up,
and to increase the difficulty a huge crab came and seized him
by the heel. It was necessary to try another form of attack.
Herakles ordered lolaos to set the neighbouring wood on fire
and to fetch him a brand from it ; with the brand so obtained
he proceeded, the moment he had cut off a head, to burn it
up, and in this way destroying them one by one, he at last
came to the invulnerable head, cut it off also, and buried it
under a huge rock. He dipped his arrows in the poison of the
hydra. When his success was reported to Eurystheus, the lat-
ter refused to reckon it as one of the labours, on the ground
that lolaos had rendered assistance. The interpretation of the
legend is that the hydra or v/ater-snake is a symbol of the
horrors of a marshy district, and that its poison, with its fatal
smell, represents the miasma which arises from such districts.
3. TJie Erymanthian boar^ like the Keryneian stag and the
Stymphalian Birds, carries us to a mountainous and wild rustic
scene. Its haunt was on Mount Erymanthos, in the north of
Arcadia. But the name of Erymanthos was also applied to a
stream which flowed down the mountain side; and it is not
improbable that the wild boar was only a legendary illustration
of the ravages produced m winter and early spring by the
descent of this river with swollen torrents. The orders of
THE TWKLVK LABOURS OF HKKAKLKS.
251
Eurystheus were that the boar should be brought back alive
to Mykenx; but at the sight of Herakles returning with it
alive on his shoulders, fear took possession of the king, and
he hid himself in a large bronze vessel, into which Herakles,
as freiiuently represented on ancient vascjs, proceeded to put
the boar, a.s the safest possible place. The consternation of
Eurystheus may be imagined. In connection with the cap-
ture of the boar is told the story of a visit which Herakles
paid on his way to the Centaur, Pholos, who lived in a cave
on Mount Pholoe. The hero was hungry, and Pholos gave
him to eat. He was also thirsty, and required some wine.
Now Pholos had at hand a large vase full of choice wine, but
it was the common property of the Centaurs who lived in
other ])arts of the mountain. On the other hand the wine
had been a present from Dionysos, and had been accompanied
with the command that it should not be opened till his good
friend Herakles arrived. Pholos accordingly had no hesita-
tion in tapping the vase, and both drank freely from it. The
strong aroma of the wine, however, reached the nostrils of the
other Centaurs, who now flocked towards the cave of Pholos
in wild confusion, armed with pine branches, rocks, axes, and
torches, and fell upon Herakles. A violent fight ensued, in
which Herakles, besides with superior numbers, had also to
contend with the disadvantages of a flood of water sent by the
clouds, who were the mothers of the Centaurs. Ultimately he
succeeded in wounding many, and dispersing the others into
the woods, — the only melancholy part of the issue being that
his friend Pholos lost his life, under circumstances which re-
mind us of the death of that other kindly Centaur, Chiron,
who lived on Mount Pelion, and brought up Achilles. Pholos
was stooping over a Centaur who had fallen by an arrow from
252 HEROES.
Herakles, and after drawing out the arrow, was wondering
how so small a thing could produce such an effect, when it
fell from his hands, and striking severely on his foot, its poison
entered his body and he died. The legend appears to have
been popular both with poets and vase painters.
4. The Keryfieian stagy an animal of wonderful fleetness,
with antlers of gold and hoofs of brass, was sacred to Artemis,
to whom it had been dedicated by Taygete, one of the
Pleiads. It took its name from the hill and hunting district
of Keryneia, on the borders of Arcadia and Achaia; at other
times it w^as called the Maenalian stag. The task imposed on
Herakles was to capture and bring it back alive. The chase
lasted for a whole year, Herakles pursuing it over hills^and
plains, ravines and meadows, on to the Hyperborean region,
and thence back to where it had started among the Arcadian
hills. It sought shelter in the sanctuary of Artemis, but being
dislodged was overtaken by Herakles at the banks of the river
Ladon. He would have slain it had not Apollo and Artemis
appeared on the scene. The stag running a whole year on to the
regions of the Hyperboreans, and thence returning to where
it had set out, appears to be a mythical illustration of the
course of the moon, and may be compared with the much
simpler story of the huntress Arge — the "■ shimmering being"
who pursued a stag, crying out, " I will catch you should
your speed equal that of Helios;" for which boast the angry
god transformed her into a deer.
5. The Stamphalian birds. The vale of Stamphalos, lying
among the mountains in such a way as to be constantly ex-
posed to the floods and storms of winter, was described in a
mythical form as being subject to the ravages of a numberless
flock of birds, which, with their iron talons and feathers sharp
THI-: TWKLVK LAlJOURS OF HERAKLES. 253
as arrows, delighted in human flesh. From the description
of the figures of some of them, which were i)reserved in the
sanctuary of Artemis, it appears that they resembled in form
the Harpys, and like them, too, they were, there is every
reason to believe, symbols of the cold, destructive storms of
winter. To get rid of them, Herakles first raised an alarm by
ringing a large bell ; and when the birds came out from the
thick wood where their nests were, many were shot down by
his arrows, and the rest flew away in fright. They flew, as it
appears from the story of the Argonauts, to an island, sacred
to Ares, in the inhospitable Black Sea, where the Argonauts
suffered severely from the heavy falls of their sharp biting
feathers, and only obtained relief by again frightening them
by raising a great din. As the birds flew over the sea their
feathers fell like a thick snow-storm, the flakes of which, it
should be remembered, are frequently in the legends of other
peoples compared with feathers. Herakles, as a hero repre-
senting the influence of the sun, was very properly called in
by the myth-makers to destroy beings of this kind, more
especially as in the neighbouring district of Pheneos he had
long been regarded as a beneficent hero. The statement of
his having alarmed the birds by ringing a bell may have been
suggested by a common practice of raising birds from their
nests. At the same time it may also refer to a custom which
is known at any rate in more recent times — that of ringing
bells during severe storms, from a belief that such a proceed-
ing availed against all evil spirits of the air.
6. The Augcian stables. Augeias, the rich prince of Elis,
and his daughter Agamede, the sorceress who knew the potency
of all the herbs in the world, were known to the author of the
Iliad (xi. 701, 739). His seat was at Ephyro, a name which
254 HEROES.
occurs in connection with the worship of the heavenly powers,
while Augeias itself means '' a being of streaming light." Light
streamed from his eyes, and it was said expressly that he was a
son of Helios. His daughter Agamede is obviously identical
in character with Dirke, Medea, and Megamede, all of whom
represented by their witchcraft the occult powers of the moon.
Another feature of the story, which confirms the opinion that
Augeias in some way was intended to illustrate the phenomena
of the sun's light, is his possession of herds of lambs and
cattle, fabulous in numbers as are the fleecy clouds, and-TTi-
cluding twelve bulls, white as swans, and sacred to Helios —
one of them being called Phaethon, and described as glittering
like a star. The court of Augeias was by the banks of the
river Menios, and the task assigned to Herakles was to clear
out his endless line of stalls alone and in one day. To ac-
complish this, the hero made an opening through the wall at
a part where the river approached it. The stream, rushing
in at the opening, swept with it, as it flowed along the stables,
their accumulated dung. Augeias had promised to reward
Herakles with a tenth of his herds ; but declined to fulfil his
agreement on hearing that the task had been imposed by
Eurystheus. This refusal afterwards led to a war between
Herakles and Elis.
7. The Creta?i hull had been presented by Poseidon to
Minos, and by him placed among the herd of cattle sacred to
the sun. How it became wild, and how Pasiplmc, the wife of
Minos, conceiving a passion for it, followed it over the island,
has been told in connection with the legends of Crete. The
task imposed on Herakles was to bring this bull to Mykense.
The first difficulty was to capture and subdue it, an act in
which he is frequently represented on the painted vases. The
hi: IWKIAK LAHOURS OF HKKAKLKS. 255
second was to bring it over the sea to Mykena:, which he did
by sitting on its back wliilc it swam, as did Europa with Zeus,
in the shape of a bull. As to the fate of the bull, it is said
that Eurystheus sacrificed it to Hera, and, again, that it
escaped, roved wildly over the Peloponnesus, and was finally
captured at Marathon by Theseus.
8. The horses of Diotnedes, a kirig of Thrace, and reputed
to have been a son of Ares, the god of war and the personifi-
cation of storm. Like the people whom he ruled, Diomedes
was fierce in war. His seat was in the neighbourhood of
Abdera, where in later times the remains of his citadel was
pointed out. He was the owner of certain horses which fed
on human flesh, and by that means became furious and so
l)owerfiil that they had to be fastened with iron chains. The
human flesh on which they fed was generally that of persons
who had been wrecked on that inhospitable coast. Herakles
was ordered to bring these horses to Mykenae. To Abdera
he went by sea; and on arriving overpowered the guards, and
led the horses away to the shore, when he was overtaken by a
crowd of the subjects of Diomedes. A terrible fight ensued,
in which the king fell at the hands of Herakles, and was him-
self given as food for his horses. In the course of the combat,
Abderos, a beautiful youth, of whom Herakles was very fond,
fell : and in his honour the hero raised a mound, and insti-
tuted games in his honour, which the people of Abdera after-
wards continued annually. After the horses had been conveyed
to Mykenae and presented to Eurystheus, it is said that they
escaped among the hills of Arcadia, and were there ultimately
devoured by wild beasts — probably by the wolves of Zeus
Lykaios. Their allegorical signification is clearly that of
storms and billows, and hence the legend was located in
HEROES.
Thrace, a country with which we are familiar in connection
with other personifications of storm — such as Ares, Lykurgos,
and Boreas,
9. The girdle of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons, had
been a gift from Ares, and was a symbol of the power of a
rushing headlong storm. The task imposed on Herakles was
to fetch this girdle for Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus,
of whom we learn elsewhere that she was a priestess of the
Argive Hera. Herakles slew the Amazon, and returned with
the girdle. From this adventure appears to have arisen the
legend of a war conducted by Herakles against the Amazons.
10. The cattle of Gcryon or Geryoneus, who was a son of
Chrysaor and the Okeanide nymph Kallirrhoe. In one person
he had three bodies, three heads, three pairs of legs, and six
arms. He was gigantic in size, heavily armed, powerful, and
provided with wings. The great point of his character was
that he was the lord of immense herds of cattle. Considering
that the possession of herds of cattle was also a prominent
feature in the character of Apollo and Helios, in whose case
the cattle represented the days of the year, and considering
further that the local habitation of Geryon, though assigned to
various localities, is always assigned to a place in some way
connected with the worship of Helios, it may be inferred that
Geryon also was an illustration of some of the phenomena of
the sky; and of these phenomena none but those of wintry
storms correspond with his personal appearance and vehemence.
Geryon keeps his cattle at night in a dark cave in the remote
west, into which Herakles penetrates, and drives them away
eastward towards the region of morning light. The expedition
had three stages: first, the journey to F>ythcia, where Geryon
lived, and which, judged by the meaning of its name, seems
THE TWELVE LABOURS OF HERAKLES. 257
to be connected with the red glow of sunset ; secondly, the
contest with Gcryon ; and, thirdly, the r9turn to Mykense with
the cattle. Erytheia was an island somewhere in the remote
west, beyond the pillars of Herakles; and to reach it the hero
employed a vessel, obtained, some said, from Nereus, while
others believed that he had compelled Helios to lend him for
the occasion the cup or vessel in which he was accustomed to
sail every night round the world from west to east. On the
passage Herakles was alarmed, or at any rate disturbed, by a
storm, which was only appeased by his drawing his bow on
Okeanos. Reaching the island, he placed himself on Mount
Abas, but was observed by the two-headed dog of Geryon, and
attacked by it. He slew the dog, and was next attacked by the
herdsman Eurytion, who also fell at his hands. Then Meno-
itios, who was there watching the cattle of Helios, pointed out
to him, the cattle of Geryon, grazing in a meadow by the river's
side. He was in the act of driving them away, when Geryon
himself, in all his strength and fierceness, appeared on the scene.
The combat was ended by a fatal shaft from Herakles. Ship-
ping the cattle into the vessel of the sun, and landing them
safely, Herakles commenced his homeward journey on foot,
through Iberia, Gaul, over the Alps, and down through Italy,
with many adventures, in all of which he was successful. At
Rome occurred the incident with the robber Cacous, which the
Romans incorporated among their national legends, though
the elements of it were obviously of a Greek origin. At the
Phlegr?ean fields, near Cumae, he fought the Giants. On the
mountains between Rhegium and Locri, his rest was disturbed
by the noise of the grasshoppers, and at his prayer the gods
removed these creatures from the district for ever. From the
south of Italy one of his bulls escaped across the sea to Sicily,
17
HEROES.
and as it was necessary to follow it, Herakles, holding on by
the horns of another bull, crossed with his herd to that island,
through the length and breadth of which he appears to have
wandered, encountering giants like Eryx, experiencing kind-
ness from the nymphs of Himera and Egesta, at whose warm
springs he was refreshed, and everywhere leaving reminiscences
of his visit. Thence he passed up the shores of the Adriatic,
round by Illyria and Epirus to Ambracia, where a gadfly, sent
by Hera, caused his cattle to run away in great numbers to the
mountains. With the remainder he reached the Hellespont,
and thence proceeded to Mykense, where Eurystheus sacrified
them to the goddess Hera.
II. The apples of the Hesperides. According to later story,
the last labour imposed on Herakles was to procure three of
the golden apples which grew in the garden of the Hesperides ;
and hence in works of art which represent him as invichcs, the
invincible, he appears holding the apples in his hand. As in
the case of the cattle of Geryon, here also the chief interest of
the legend resides in the adventures on the way. As regards
the locality where this wonderful garden was to be found, there
was a difference of opinion ; some, apparently under the in-
fluence of Phoenician traditions, believing it to have been in
the remote west, while ^schylos and others conceived that
Atlas and the Hesperides lived in the northern region of the
Hyperboreans. From the combination of both beliefs in later
times, a very wide scope was given to the adventures of the
hero on his way there and back. Herakles himself, not know-
ing what direction to take, is said to have first passed through
Macedonia and on to the Rhone, where he met certain nymphs
who advised him that Nereus, the sea-god, knew the secret,
and could be made to give it up. In spite of the many trans-
THE TWKI.VE LAIiOl'RS OF HEKAKLES. 259
formations of Ncreus, Hcrakles compeHed him to tell him the
■way. He then i)rocce(k'(l to Libya, where he found Anta^os,
a giant of enormous strength, whose habit was to kill all trav-
ellers who crossed the waste where he lived. He was a son of
Poseidon and the Earth, deriving from his mother a strength
which rendered him invincible to those who could not lift him
from the ground, which Herakles did. The wrestling scene
between the two was a favourite subject in ancient art, and
commended itself largely to the Greek youths as they practised
in the palaistra. When he had conquered Antaeos, Herakles
lay down to rest, and in a little while found himself covered
with a host of creatures called Pygmies, who sprang up from
the waste. He wrapped them in his lion's skin and killed them.
From Lil:)ya he went into Egypt, where he was seized by the
orders of Busiris and conveyed, as were all strangers, to be
sacrificed. He burst his bonds, and offered up instead Busiris,
his son, and retinue. From Egypt he went to India, and
thence returned in a northerly direction towards the Caucasus
mountains, where he set free Prometheus, and in return for
that kindly act was told the way on through Scythia to the
region of the Hyperboreans, where lived Atlas and the Hes-
perides. Part of the arrangement was that Atlas should pluck
the three apples for him; and to relieve him for that purpose
it was necessary that Herakles should take the burden of the
world on his shoulders. Atlas returned with the apples, and
naively proposed that he himself should convey them to Eurys-
theus. Herakles appeared to appreciate the proposal, and only
wished first to find a pad to save his head from the weight.
Atlas did not see the joke, and willingly took the world on his
shoulders again. Herakles, of course, did not return. An-
other report has it that Herakles himself entered the garden,
26o HEROES.
slew the dragon which watched the tree, and carried off the
apples and returned with them to Eurystheus.
12. Ce7'berus, the three-headed dog of Hades, which guarded
the entrance to the lower world, was a symbol of the eternal
darkness of Hades. The task of bringing it to the upper
world was regarded in the earlier epic poetry as the most
difficult of the labours of Herakles. It was supposed that he
entered from the upper world through a chasm near Taenarum,
returning by the same way. The shades of the dead fled in
terror when they beheld him. Near the gates he found his
friends Theseus and Peirithoos seated on a rock, to which
they were attached as if they had grown from it, and in great
trouble. He freed Theseus, but the earth shook when he tried
to do the same for Peirithoos. To impart life to the shades
of his friends whom he freed, he obtained blood from one of
the cows of Hades, which he killed after a severe fight with
Menoites, the herdsman. At last he reached Pluto, who
agreed that he might take Cerberus provided he could do so
without the assistance of arms of any kind. This he succeeded
in doing, and leading the hated dog to Eurystheus, completed
his twelve labours.
The labours of Herakles were a favourite subject with the
ancient vase-painters and sculptors, and of the latter especially
those of later times who worked for Roman patrons, in whose
estimation the Greek hero stood high. The manner in which
each of the labours was represented, seldom varied; and from
this it may be assumed that the type of each had originally
been established by Greek artists of celebrity, from whose
models it would have been presumption to depart. As an
instance of how these labours were represented collectively,
we would cite a marble sarcophagus in the British Museum,
THE TWELVE LABOURS OF HERAKLES. 261
dating probably from the third century a. d. Without caring
to follow the chronological order usually accepted, the sculp-
tor has chosen to dispose his groups according to his ideas of
artistic effect, or perhaps according to his ideas of their im-
portance. On the extreme left of the front we find Herakles
dragging Cerberus out of Hades, the mouth of which is repre-
sented as the rocky entrance to a cave. Among the rocks is
hiding a nude diminutive figure, which may be taken to be one
of the shades of the dead, who, as it was said, fled in terror
when they beheld the hero. Next to this is a group of Hera-
kles removing the girdle of the Amazon Hippolyte, who lies
dead at his feet. Then we have the scene in the garden of
the Hesperides, then the taming of the horses of Diomedes,
and lastly, the strangling of the Nemean lion. On one end
of the sarcophagus he appears slaying the Lernean hydra, and
on the other capturing the Kcryneian stag. In these last
three groups he is figured represented as beardless and of a
youthful figure, while in the others his form has become colos-
sal, and his features marked with toil. On the lid are sculp-
tured on a smaller scale, the five remaining labours, of which
the first, beginning from the left hand, is the bringing of the
Erymanthian boar; next to that we find Herakles hard at
work with a pickaxe, making an opening, as it seems, into the
wall of the Augeian stables ; the third scene represents him
shooting the Stymphalian birds; in the fourth he is engaged
in subduing the Cretan bull ; and in the fifth he fights with
the triple-bodied giant, Geryon. These five labours are shut
in on the left by the scene where Herakles, as an infant,
strangles the snake sent by Hera, and on the right by a group
representing him seated after his labours, and receiving a cup
of wine from the goddess Victory, while Athene stands by.
262 HEROES.
Herakles as a National Hero.
In addition to the twelve labours imposed by Eurystheus,
and apparently after the expiry of his servitude to that mon-
arch, Herakles performed many other wonderful feats, which
caused his name to be surrounded with glory. Of these it
has already been mentioned that he wrestled with and van-
quished the Giant Antaeos, who lived in Cyrene, on the
north coast of Africa, and slew all who came in his way, and
that in Egypt he slew Busiris, whose practice had been to
sacrifice all strangers that entered his dominions. Next we
find him among the Caucasus mountains, where, having shot
the bird that gnawed the liver of Prometheus, he set the
Titan free. He saved Alkestis, the wife of Admetos, king
of Pherse, under the following circumstances : Admetos, being
sick, had caused an inquiry to be made of an oracle as to the
issue of his illness, and was told in rei)ly that he would die
unless some one could be found to volunteer to lay down his
life for him. For this his wife, Alkestis, offered herself, and
would have been carried off to the shades, but for Herakles,
who seized the god of death in his strong arms, and held him
till he promised to allow her to remain with her husband.
He accompanied the expedition of the Argonauts in search
of the golden fleece, and took part in the first war against
Troy, along with Telamon, the father of Ajax, Peleus, the
father of Achilles, and Oikles, the father of Amphiaraos.
The cause of this war was a breach of faith on the part of
Laomedon, the king of Troy, who, in consideration of
Herakles having rescued his daughter Hesione from the
jaws of a sea-monster, had promised her hand to Herakles.
IIKRAKLF.S AS A NATIONAL HF.RO. 263
Laomedon was besieged in his citadel, finally was taken prison-
er, and slain along with his sons — all except Podarkes,
whose life was sj)ared on the entreaty of Hesione. Tckunon
was rewarded with the hand of Hesione. Podarkes assumed
the name of Priamos, and, after the withdrawal of Herakles
and his expedition, established a new dynasty in Troy. On
the way home Herakles and his companions were compelled
to take shelter from a storm at Kos, but were refused hospi-
tality by the inhabitants. For this they destroyed the town.
In an expedition against Pylos, Herakles succeeded, with
the assistance of Athene, in overcoming Periklymenos, a
strange being, who had the power of assuming any form he
pleased. He next proceeded to Laced nemon, to assist his
friend Tyndareus, the rightful ruler of that state, against the
family of Hippokoontides, by whom he had been expelled,
— this undertaking being also crowned with success, though it
entailed the loss, among others of his companions, of the sons
of Kepheus, king of Tegea. Tyndareus was reinstated.
Whether it was on the conclusion of the labours imposed on
him by Eurystheus, or at some other period of his life, Hera-
kles is said to have once returned to Thebes, exhausted by toil,
and to have fallen into violent illness, followed by raving, in
the course of which he committed many unfortunate acts,
among others attempting to carry off the sacred tripod from
the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. Being afterwards informed
by the oracle of Apollo that the crimes he had committed
through his insanity could be expiated by a period of three
years' servitude, he offered his services to Omphale, queen
of Lydia, and there, as elsewhere, distinguished himself chiefly
for the assistance he rendered to the oppressed, and for the
valour of his deeds.
264 HEROES.
The Death and Deification of Herakles.
Herakles, it would seem, had wooed lole, a daughter of
Eurytos, king of CEchalia, but had been ultimately refused her
hand, in spite of his having fulfilled all the conditions laid
down by her father. Turning elsewhere, he became a suitor
of Deianeira, a daughter of CEneus, king of Kalydon, who
offered his daughter in marriage to the man who should van-
quish the river-god Acheloos in wrestling. Having proved
himself more than a match for the river-god, Herakles obtained
Deianeira in marriage, and next proceeded to punish the father
of lole for his deceit. Having taken the stronghold of (Echalia,
he put the king and his children to death, with the exception
of lole, whom he carried off; but instead of returning home
directly, proceeded with her to a promontory in Euboea, in-
tending to offer a sacrifice to Zeus. Deianeira, hearing of
this, and being jealous of a revival of her husband's former
love for lole, took the white robe in which he had been accus-
tomed to offer sacrifices, steeped it in some preparation given
her by the Centaur Nessos, as a charm to bring back her
husband's love, and sent it by her son Lichas to Herakles.
She was not aware that the preparation contained the deadliest
poison. Herakles had hardly put on the robe, when he was
seized with violent pain — the poison entering into his frame.
Death appeared to be inevitable. He caused a pyre of wood
to be erected on Mount CEta, set fire to it, and after handing
over his unerring bow and arrows to his friend Philoktetes,
mounted the pyre, and was consumed in its flames. His spirit,
it was said, passed away in a cloud, and was conducted by
Iris and Hermes to Olympos, where, after being reconciled
XXXI V.
Theseus.
heraki.es as a national hero. 265
to Hera, he was married to the goddess Hebe, and enjoyed
immortality and the esteem of all the gods. De'ianeira, mean-
time having heard of the calamity she had caused, put herself
to death-
While ancient poets familiarized the peoi)le with the exploits
of Herakles, artists found in them an endless variety of sub-
jects, as the collections of sculptures and painted vases still
testify. In the schools he was held up as an embodiment of
heroic virtue, and everywhere honour was done to him.
THESEUS.
(plate xxxiv.)
The friend, and in many respects the counterpart of Hera-
kles, was Theseus, a son of .^geus, king of Attica, and
-^thra, a daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezene. While
his mother was a descendant of Pelops, his father was of the
line of ?>echtheus. Theseus, brought up under the care of
his grandfather, Pittheus, whose wisdom and virtue were well
known, soon gave promise of great strength and skill in athletic
exercises, such as were then prescribed for youths, and more-
over became a proficient in playing the lyre. His father,
.^geus, on taking leave of his mother, ^thra, at Troezene,
had secreted his sword and sandals under a great rock, and
told her that when the boy was able to move the rock, he
might come to him at Athens, bringing the sword and sandals
as a token. When only in his sixteenth year, Theseus accom-
l)lished this task, and at once set out for Athens, where
Medea, who was then living wi.i ^geus, tried to compass
his death, but her plan having failed, fled.
266 HEROES.
On his way to Athens Theseus was the hero of several
exploits resembling more or less the feats which Herakles
performed in his youth„ He slew Periphates, whose practice
had been to crush with a blow of his iron club all travellers
across the pathless district between Troezene and Epidauros.
On the Isthmus of Corinth Theseus met and overcame Sinis,
the robber, who was the terror of the neighbourhood. It was
to commemorate this feat, it was said, that Theseus established
the Isthmian games. At Krommyon he slew the wild boar
that was laying waste the country round. He threw SKron
from a high cliff into the sea — a death to which that robber
had doomed many unlucky travellers. At Eleusis he slew the
powerful Kerkyon, and afterwards Damastes (usually called
Prokrustes), whose manner of killing his victims was to
place them on a bed which was always either too long or too
short : if too short, he would cut oif part of the victim to suit
the bed ; if too long, he would stretch his victim to the re-
quired length.
Arriving at Athens, Theseus was purified from all this blood-
shed by the grateful inhabitants. It happened that, because
of the long Ionian dress which he wore, and his long hair,
which gave him the appearance of a girl, some scoffed at him
for going about alone in public. To show that he was far
from so effeminate as he seemed, he unyoked a laden wagon
that was standing by, and threw it up in the air, to the aston-
ishment of all.
His next exploit was against the family of giants, fifty in
number, called Pallantides, sons of his uncle Pallas, who
were endeavouring to get rid of Theseus, in the hope of
succeeding to the government of Athens at the death of their
uncle ^geus. His extraordinary strength enabled him to
THESEUS. 267
overpower them. He then proceeded to Marathon, where,
as we have already said, in connection with the labours of
Herakles, a furious bull was destroying the plains. He cap-
tured and led it off to Athens, where he sacrificed it to the
goddess Athene, who had lent him her aid in the enterprise.
(See Plate XXXIV.)
But the adventure in which he gained the greatest glory was
his slaying the Minotaur, a monster of which we have given
a description above in connection with the legends of Crete,
where we have also explained why Athens was'compelled to
send a tribute of young men and maidens as victims to the
Minotaur. Theseus offered himself as a victim, and in time
arrived with the others in Crete. Before the sacrifice took
place, however, he had won the favour of Ariadne, the
daughter of Minos, and had obtained from her a clue of thread,
by holding on to which he might find his way back out of the
labyrinth in which the Minotaur lived. The intricacies of its
passages would have otherwise been a source of danger against
which his great strength would not have served him. On a
very ancient vase in the British Museum there is a picture in
which Ariadne is represented as holding the one end of the
clue, while Theseus in the interior of the labyrinth is slaying
the monster. Having by this act freed Athens forever from
the cruel tribute, Theseus and his companions set out on the
homeward voyage, accompanied also by Ariadne. But at the
island of Naxos he abandoned her, fearing to take a stranger
home as his wife. Her grief on awaking and seeing the ship
far away that conveyed her lover was intense, and has been
commemorated frequently both by poets and artists. She
was found sorrowing by the young wine-god Dionysos, by
whose influence her joy returned.
HEROES.
Meanwhile the arrival of the ship was being anxiously
■looked for at Athens. That the good news might be known
more quickly, Theseus had promised, when he set out, to
hoist a white flag when he sighted Attica, if successful. In
his joy, however, he had forgotten the promise, and sailed
towards the port with the black colours with which he had
started. On seeing this, his father, ^geus, gave way to grief
at the supposed loss of his son, and put an end to his life.
Among the other adventures in which Theseus took part
were the expedition of the Argonauts and that of Herakles
against the Amazons. In the latter expedition he had, it was
said, carried off Hippolyte, whose girdle Herakles had been
commanded by Eurystheus to obtain. For the carrying off of
their queen, a great body of the Amazons invaded Attica, but
were repulsed by Theseus.
His warm friendship for the Thessalian prince Peirithoos
gave Theseus two opportunities of displaying his heroic
qualities. The first was at the marriage of his friend — at
which, as has been previously related, the Centaurs present at
the banquet, becoming fired with wine, raised a tumult, and
would have carried off the bride, but for the resistance of
Theseus. The second occasion was when Peirithoos, having
conceived a passion for Persephone, audaciously resolved to
carry her away from the lower world, and was aided by The-
seus. The attempt failed, however, and both were kept in
chains in the lower world till Plerakles released them.
After the death of his father, Theseus succeeded to the
government of Athens, lived in splendour, ruled with prudence,
and introduced institutions of a most liberal kind among his
people. He united the various independent and previously
hostile villages of Attica into one state, with Athens at its
XXXI II
r^i
Meleagros.
n ^ ^- M
The Dioskuri.
THE HUNT OF THE KAI.VDONIAN BOAR. 269
head. He enriched and gave a new impulse to the great
festival of the Panathenaea, that had been established by
Erechtheus. In the island of Delos he founded an annual
festival accompanied by games, at which the prize was a wreath
of the sacred palm-tree. In Athens the festival of Pyanep-
sia, in honour of Apollo, and Oschophoria, in honour of
Dionysos, were both said to have been established ])y him.
He met his death, it was said, at the hands of Lykomedes,
to whose court he had retired on the occasion of a tumult in
Athens. His wife was Phaedra, a daughter of Minos, of
Crete; according to another report, Antiope.
The memory of his deeds was preserved by a beautiful
temple in Athens, erected for that purpose, and called the
Theseion.
^rHE HUNT OF THE KALYDONIAN BOAR.
At the head of this expedition was Meleagros, a son of
CEneus, the king of Kalydon, and his wife Althaea; Deia-
neira, the wife of Herakles, being a daughter of the same pair.
At the birth of Meleagros the Parcai appeared to Alth?ea, it
would seem, Atropos telling her that her infant would live as
long as a brand which she pointed to on the fire remained un-
consumed. Althaea snatched it that moment from the flames,
hid it away carefully, and thus secured the invulnerability of
her son. On growing to manhood he took part in the Argo-
nautic expedition, and is said to have signalized himself by
many acts of bravery; but the enterprise with which his fame
was most associated was the successful hunt of the ferocious
boar, that was laying waste the country round Kalydon, defy-
ing the spears and hounds of ordinary huntsmen.
270 HEROES.
Meleagros sent messengers round Greece to invite all its
bravest heroes to Kalydon to join him in the himt. There
came Idas and Lynkeus from Messene, Kastor and Poly-
deukes (Pollux) from Lakedaemon, Theseus from Athens,
Admetos from Pherae, Ankseos and the beautiful Atalante
from Arcadia, Jason from lolkos, Peleus from Thessaly, and
many other well-proved heroes. After enjoying for nine days,
as was usual, the hospitality of Meleagros, they prepared on
the tenth for the chase, which, with a few accidents, resulted
in the death of the boar by the spear of Meleagros, to wliom
accordingly fell the trophy of the monster's head and skin.
In Plate XXXIII. he is represented standing beside an altar
shaded by a laurel-tree, holding two spears in his hand. His
dog looks up to him. The head of the boar lies on the altar.
As, however, Atalante had been the first to wound the boar,
Meleagros made that a pretext for presenting her with its skin.
But on her way homewards to Arcadia she was met and
forcibly robbed of it by the brothers of Althaea, the mother of
Meleagros, who considered that they had a superior claim
to that part of the booty. A quarrel arose on that account
between Meleagros and his uncles ; they fought, and the end
of it was that the uncles were slain. To avenge their death,
Althaea cast the brand, which up till then she had carefully
preserved, into the fire, and thereupon her brave son was
seized with dreadful pain, and died. Grief at the rashness of
her act caused the mother to kill herself.
THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS.
To understand the object of this expedition, it will be
necessary to go back a little into the genealogy of the person
THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS. 27 1
at whose instance it was conducted. That person was Jason,
a son of ^son, the rightful king of lolkos in Thessaly, and
his wife Alkimede. The father of ^son was ^olos (a son of
Hellen and a grandson of Deukalion), at whose death he suc-
ceeded to the throne, but was driven from it by Pelias, his
step-brother, at whose hands he and all his relatives suffered
cruel persecution. The boy Jason was saved from harm by
some of his father's friends, and placed under the care and
instruction of the Centaur Cheiron, At the age of twenty he
was told by an oracle to present himself to Pelias, and claim
his father's kingdom. Pelias also had learned from the oracle
that a descendant of ^olos would dethrone him, and, more-
over, that the descendant in question would appear to him
for the first time with only one sandal to his feet. Pelias,
the usurper, was therefore anxiously looking out for the ap-
proach of a person in this plight. It happened that the river
Enipeus was swollen when Jason reached it, on his way to put
forth his claim against Pelias. But Hera, the patron goddess
of lolkos, taking the form of an old woman, conveyed him
across, with no loss except that of one sandal. On his arrival
at lolkos, Pelias recognized him as the rightful heir referred
to by the oracle, but, at the same time, was unwilling to abdi-
cate in his favour. He would prefer that Jason should first do
something in the way of heroic enterprise, and, as a suitable
adventure of that kind, proposed that he should fetch the
golden fleece from Kolchis. Jason agreed to this, and set
about building the Argo, the largest ship that had as yet sailed
from Greece. The goddess Athene aided him with her skill
and advice in the work, as did also Hera. When the ship
was ready, Jason sent messengers to invite the foremost heroes
of Greece to join him in his enterprise. Among the many
272
HEROES.
who accepted his invitation were Herakles, Kastor and Polhix,
Meleagros, Orpheus, Peleus, Neleus, Admetos, Theseus, his
friend Peirithbos, and the two sons of Boreas, Kalais and
Zetes.
Turning now to the story of the golden fieece, the finding
of which was the object of so powerful an expedition, we must
go back to ^olos, whom we have mentioned above as grand-
father of Jason and son of Hellen, Tliis ^olos had, besides
^son, another son, Athamas, who married Nephele, and
had two children, Phrixos and Helle. On the death of
his wife, Athamas married a second time Ino, a daughter of
Kadmos, by whom he had two sons, Learchos and Meli-
kertes. The second wife disliking her two step-children,
made several attempts on their lives. To save them from
further danger, the shade of their mother, it was said, appeared
to Phrixos, bringing at the same time a large ram v/ith a gold-
en fleece, on which she proposed Phrixos and Helle should
escape over the sea. They started according to her advice,
and Phrixos reached safely the opposite shore, but Helle fell
from the ram's back into the sea and was drowned. The name
of Hellespont was in consequence given to the strait which
they had to cross. Phrixos, having reached the other side,
proceeded to Kolchis, on the farthest shore of the Black Sea,
and there sacrificed the ram to Zeus, in honour of his safety.
He hung the golden fleece up in the temple of Ares.
Previous to starting from lolkos, Jason offered a sacrifice to
Zeus, calling upon the god for a sign of his favour, or dis-
pleasure if it should be so. Zeus answered with thunder and
lightning, which was taken as a favourable omen. The expe-
dition proceeded first to l.emnos, where the heroes were kindly
received, remained a long time, and became the fathers of a
EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS. 273
new race of heroes. The women of the island had, it would
seem, at the instigation of Aj^lirodite, slain their husbands.
One of the Lcninian women, Hypsipyle, bore ason to Jason,
and called him Euneos. Leaving Lemnos and its festive
life, the Argonauts continued their journey as far as Kyzikos,
where they landed for a short time, and were in the act of
leaving, when Herakles, having broken his oar, left the ship,
accompanied by Hylas, to cut a new oar in the wood. But
some nymphs, admiring the beauty of young Hylas, carried
him off; and as Herakles would not leave the country without
him, the expedition was compelled to proceed without the
assistance and companionship of the great hero. Their next
landing was in the neighbourhood of the modern Scutari,
where the reigning king, Amykos, was famed as a boxer, and
for his cruelty to all strangers who entered his territories.
Seeing the Argonauts land for the purpose of obtaining fresh
water, he sent them, as was his custom, a challenge to match
him with a boxer, which Pollux accepted, and proved the
skill by which he earned his fame upon the boastful Amykos.
Proceeding on their journey, they passed through the perilous
entrance to the Black Sea in safety, owing their escape from
its dangers to the advice of Phineus, the blind and aged king
of the district, whom they had found suffering great distress on
account of his food being always carried off or polluted by the
Harpys, just as he sat down to eat it. This punishment, as
well as his blindness, had been sent upon him by the gods in
consequence of his cruelty to his wife (a daughter of Boreas)
and children. The Harpys were driven away effectually by
the two sons of Boreas, who accompanied the Argonauts ; and
it was in return for this kindness that Phineus communicated
his plan for a safe passage through the Symplegades, two
274 HEROES.
great cliffs that moved upon their bases, and crushed every-
thing that ventured to pass between. His plan was first to
fly a pigeon through between them, and then the moment that
the cliffs, having closed upon the pigeon, began to retire to
each side, to row the Argo swiftly through the passage. It
was done, and before the cliffs could close upon her, the ship,
all but her rudder, had got clear of danger. From that time
the Symplegades were united into one rock.
After many other adventures the expedition at last reached
Kolchis, where they found .ffietes, a reputed son of Helios
and Perseis, reigning as king. He refused to give up the
golden fleece, except to the man who should acquit himself to
his satisfaction in certain enterprises which he proposed. The
first was to yoke to a plough his unmanageable bulls, that
snorted fire and had hoofs of brass, and to plough the field of
Ares with them. That done, the field was to be sown with a
dragon's teeth, from which armed men were to spring in the
furrows. The hero who succeeded so far was then to be per-
mitted to fetch, if he could, the golden fleece, which hung on
an oak in a grove sacred to Ares, and was watched continually
by a monstrous dragon, Medea, the daughter of^etes,
having conceived a passion for Jason, prepared him for these
dangerous tasks by means of a witch's mixture which made
him proof against fire and sword. The goddess Athene also
helped him, and his success was complete.
The Argonauts now commenced their homeward voyage,
Jason taking with him Medea. On missing his daughter,
y^etes gave pursuit. Seeing that he was overtaking them,
Medea, to divert his course, dismembered her young brother,
Absyrtos, whom she had taken with her, and cast the limbs
about in the sea. The delay caused to ^etes in collecting
Kxi'F.DriioN or rni: arconauts. 275
the pieces of his chihl, enabled Medea and Jason to escape.
According to another rcj)ort, Absyrtos had by that time grown
to manhood, and met his death in an encounter with Jason,
in pursuit of whom he had been sent by his father.
After passing through many other dangers, Jason at last
reached lolkos, and, presenting the golden fleece to Pelias,
claimed the throne, as agreed upon. But Pelias still refused
to abdicate. Jason therefore slew him, and assumed the
government of lolkos, together with that of Corinth, where
^etes, the father of Medea, had, it is said, ruled before he
went to Kokhis.
Ten years of peace followed the accession of Jason to the
throne. The origin of the troubles that fell upon the royal
house thereafter was an attachment formed by Jason for the
beautiful Kreusa (or Glauke, as others called her), whom
he made his wife in Corinth. Medea, stung with jealousy,
turned to the arts of witchcraft she had learned in Kolchis,
and having steeped a dress and a costly wreath in poison, sent
them to her rival, and by that means caused her death. Not
content with that, she set fire to the palace of Kreon, the
father of Kreusa; and further, finding Jason enraged at what
she had done, she put to death the children she herself had
borne to him, and fled to Athens, where, as we have seen, she
lived for a time with ^geus. Thence also she had to escape,
in consequence of an attempt on the life of Theseus. She
went back to Kolchis, some believed, in a chariot drawn by
winged dragons.
Jason, it is said, depressed by his troubles, repaired to the
sanctuary on the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Argo had
been consecrated in the grove of Poseidon. On approaching
the ship, part of the stern gave way, fell upon him, and caused
276 HEROES.
his death. Another version of the story says that he took his
own life.
THE YOUNGER RACE OF HEROES, AND
THE WARS AGAINST THEBES AND
TROY.
THE heroes of the succeeding age were regarded as sons
or grandsons of those whom we have just described,
the great events of the period in which they lived being the
two wars against Thebes and Troy. It has already been
observed that the accounts of these wars, though apparently
having some foundation in historical facts, are altogether
mythical in their form, and interwoven with incidents of a
wholly mythical character.
These two events, more than any of the other adventures
of heroes, formed the favourite subjects of the national poetry
of Greece, the incidents of each having been, as a whole, or
in part, worked up into a long series of epic poems and tra-
gedies, of which, with two exceptions, only fragments remain to
our times. These exceptions are the " Iliad ' ' and ^' Odyssey ' '
— the oldest, it is believed, and at the same time the most
celebrated, of the epic poems upon the subject of the war
against Troy, the reputed author of them being Homer. The
principal epic on the expedition of the seven heroes against
Thebes was entitled the Theba'is, its author being unknown.
We shall relate both these great events in the connection in
which they have come down to us.
THE WARS OF THEBES AND TROY. 277
THE SEVEN HEROES WHO WENT AGAINST
THEBES: THEIR DESCENDANTS, THE EPIGONE
Wc have already alluded to the series of grim events by
whi( h CEdipos, after killing his father, Laios, came to the
throne of Thebes, and married his own mother, Jokaste.
It will be remembered that from tliis union si3rang four chil-
dren, two of them being sons, Eteokles and Polyneikes,
and two daughters, Antigone, and Ismene ; and that, when
the criminality of the marriage came to light, Jokaste killed
herself, while CEdipos, after putting out his eyes, went into
voluntary exile, accompanied only by his high-souled daughter
Antigone, who resolved to share all his adversity.
The sons, remaining in Thebes, soon fell into a warm dis-
pute concerning the succession to the throne, but at last
agreed to reign year about, Eteokles, the elder of the two,
having the first period of office. His year, however, having
expired, he not only declined to retire in behalf of his brother,
but went so far as to expel him from the city.
Polyneikes, brooding revenge, betook himself to Ad-
rastos, king of Sikyon, and was there hospitably received,
meeting also under the same roof another pretender to a
throne, Tydeus of Argos. The two youths became friends,
and bound themselves to stand by each other in the recovery
of their sovereignty. Adrastos gave them his two daughters
in marriage, and having thus allied himself to their cause,
prepared a powerful army to reinstate, first, Polyneikes in
Thebes, and next, Tydeus in Argos.
Mean time both the young men visited many parts of Greece,
with the view of obtaining companions in arms, and many a
278 HEROES.
Stout hero answered to their summons — such, for example, as
Kapaneus, a son of Hipponoos, of Argos, Eteoklos, son
of Iphis, and Parthenopseos, a son of Atalanta and
Melanion (or of Ares), from Arcadia. These three, to-
gether with Polyneikes, Tydeus, and Adrastos, and lastly the
princely seer Amphiaraos, the son of O'ikles (or of
Apollo), constituted the so-called seven heroes against
Thebes. It was, however, with extreme reluctance that Am-
phiaraos took part in the expedition ; for he was a man of
profound piety, and a prophet, who knew that the other
leaders of the affair had all more or less been guilty of
criminal acts. He foresaw that the undertaking, altogether
godless as it was — since Polyneikes, though he had suffered
injustice, had no right to invade his native town with a
foreign army — would have a disastrous issue for all of them.
His warnings, however, were unheeded, and he himself,
since much was thought to depend on his presence, was
forced to take part in the adventure through the following
plot : —
Amphiaraos and Adrastos, finding themselves greatly at
variance in opinion concerning the projected expedition, at
last agreed to intrust the decision of the matter to Eriphyle
(the wife of Amphiaraos, who was prevailed on by the costly
presents given her secretly by Polyneikes to decide against her
husband, though she had been informed by him that Adras-
tos alone, of all the seven, would ever return from the ex-
pedition. On stepping into his chariot to depart for battle,
Amphiaraos turned round, and called down upon his wife
a curse, which his son, Alkmseon, afterwards fulfilled by
slaying his mother to avenge his father's death.
The army was now ready to march under its seven leaders.
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 279
We must, however, before tracing its further adventures, return
for a moment to Gidipos. After wandering about sad and
miserable here and there in Greece, he at last, under the
guidance of his faithful daughter, Antigone, arrived in At-
tica, where, it had been predicted, he was to find a peaceful
end to all his woes. Neither of the sons had troubled himself
about the ill-fated old man, until an oracle announced that
victory in the approaching battle would be on the side of him
who brought back CEdipos to Thebes, and had him in his
camp. Thereupon both sought him out, Polyneikes going in
person to beg for his blessing on the assault upon their native
town. Q£dipos cursed the unholy enterprise. Eteokles, as
the reigning king, despatched his uncle, Kreon, a brother of
his mother's, to Attica, with commands to bring back CEdipos
by force if necessary. But when Kreon attempted to do so,
Theseus interfered, and expelled him and his followers from
the land. CEdipos, after calling down upon his undutiful
sons a curse, that they might perish each by the hand of the
other, died in the sacred grove of the Eumenides at Kolonos,
near Athens, and was buried by Theseus with pomp and cere-
mony. Antigone returned in great grief to Thebes.
About the same time the expedition of the seven set out.
On reaching Nemea they found all the springs dry — a judg-
ment sent upon them by Dionysos, it was said, the guardian
deity of Thebes. Suffering severely from thirst, and looking
about for water, the heroes encountered Hypsipyle (see
Argonauts), who, because of Jason's love for her, had been
sent by the other women of Lcmnos to Nemea, and there sold
into slavery to the king, Lykurgos, her duty being to tend his
young child, Opheltes. They begged her to take them to a
well, which she did ; but before going off w^ith them, had, con-
28o HEROES.
trary to the warning of an oracle, laid down the child on the
ground in the wood. Returning from the well, they found
the child dead witliin the coils of a snake, Tydeus and
Kapaneus would have slain the reptile at once, had not Am-
phiaraos announced it to be a miraculous creature sent by
Zeus as an evil omen. On this account he re-named the child
Archemoros ; which means the '^dawn of mystery." The
heroes appeased the angry parents by performing splendid
obsequies to the child, the athletic contests and ceremonies
of that occasion being afterwards looked on as the first cele-
bration of the Nemean games (see above). Hypsipyle was
taken back to her home by her son, Euneos, who had gone
in search of her.
In spite of this evil omen, the army of the seven advanced
upon Thebes, and after several less important adventures ar-
rived before its walls. There they pitched a camp, and as a
preliminary attempt to settle the matter amicably, sent Tydeus
into Thebes with orders to require that the government be
ceded to Polyneikes, according to the original terms of agree-
ment between the brothers.
Tydeus was, however, received with hostility, and would
have perished in the ambush laid for him by Eteoklcs, con-
trary to the universal usages of war, had it not been for his
extraordinary strength. Of the fifty men who surrounded
him, he spared only one to take back to Eteokles the tidings
of the affair.
The dispute must now be decided by force of arms. Thebes
was closely surrounded, each of the seven lieroes taking up
his position before one of its seven gates. In a similar manner
Eteokles distributed his forces under seven generals within
each of the gates, reserving for himself the defence of the gate
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 28 1
which his brother was to attack. When the battle commenced,
deeds of extraordinary valour were done on both sides; but the
gods were against the assailants, the 'lliebans having gained
the divine good-will in a special degree by the sacrifice which
Kreon's son, Mencekeus, voluntarily made of himself with
a view to save his native town, as the oracle announced by the
scLT Teiresias recommended. When the last and fatal day
of the siege arrived, Amjjhiaraos warned his companions in
arms of wliat awaited them, and the death of all their leaders
except Adnistos. Intrusting to him tokens of remembrance
for their friends, they rushed into battle with all the courage
of despair.
Matters soon began to look grave outside the walls of
Thebes. The fierce Kapaneus, who had boasted that he would
take the town in spite of Zeus and all the divine portents, had
reached the parapet of the walls on his storming ladder, when
a lightning bolt from Zeus struck and hurled him to the
ground. A general onset of the Thebans followed this event,
the Argive army falling before them everywhere, and their
leaders being slain. Etcokles and Polyneikcs pierced each
other through the body in a hand-to-hand encounter. The
earth, struck by a lightning bolt on the si)ot where Amphia-
raos stood, yawned and swallowed him, from whi( h time for-
ward he continued to exist as a spirit endowed with the gift
of prophecy. Adrastos alone escaped, and that by means of
the winged horse Arion.
Kreon, the uncle of the fallen sons of CEdipos, succeeded
to the throne of Thebes, and, as his first duty, buried Eteokles
with great ceremony — a rite which he at the same time denied
to the body of Polyneikes, on pain of death to any one who
should perform it. The kindly heart of Antigone could not
282 HEROES.
bear this sentence, which caused her brother's soul to wander
forever without rest in the lower world ; and accordingly she
defied Kreon's strict order, and buried the corpse secretly, as
she thought ; but his watchman having observed the act she
was condemned to be buried alive — the fact of her being be-
trothed to his son, Haemon, and the tears and entreaties of
the latter, being of no avail to mitigate her doom. Antigone
was pent in a subterranean chamber, in which, to avoid the
pangs of starvation, she hanged herself. Haemon, unwilling
to outlive her, put an end to his existence, and Kreonls-Jn-
human cruelty was punished by the desolation of his house,
by which the family of CEdipos became extinct.
Thirty years having elapsed since the expedition of the seven,
their sons undertook to avenge the death of their fathers by a
second attack on Thebes. This was the so called war of the
Epigoni (that is, *' offspring" or sons), which was entered
upon with the consent of the gods, and ended in the destruc-
tion of Thebes, which for a long time remained a mere open
space called ''Lower Thebes."
IHK TROJAN WAR. 283
THE TROJAN WAR.
THE CAUSE O F T 11 K W A R.
Contemporary with the conquest of Thebes by the Epigoni,
which has been related aboNc, we find on the throne of Troy,
or Ilion, a king named Priamos, whose chief distinction
( onsisted in his being the father of a noble race of sons. His
wife was Hekabe (or Hecuba). When the time approached
fi)r another son to be born to them, their daughter Kas-
sandra, on whom Apollo had bestowed the gift of prophecy,
announced that the child would grow up to be the ruin of his
country. To prevent such a calamity, the infant was at its
birth exposed on Mount Ida, where it was found and brought
p by shei)herds, in whose society and occupation Paris, or
Alexandres, spent the early part of his life.
On a beautiful day, as he tended his flocks, three goddesses
( ame to him — Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite — commanding
him to decide which of them was the most beautiful. Here
we must explain. When Zeus withdrew, as we have already
seen, from his proposed marriage with Thetis, on account of
a prophecy communicated by Themis, that the issue of such
a union would be a son who would surpass his father in might,
it was agreed to give the sea-goddess in marriage to Peleus, a
young prince of Phthia, in Thessaly, whose piety had en-
deared him to the gods. "The gods came to their marriage
feast," as they did to that of Kadmos and Harmonia, all but
Eris, the goddess of strife. Angry at not being invited.
284 HEROES.
she determined to mar the pleasantness of the company, and
to this end threw among them a golden apple, on which was
written, '^To the most beautiful." Hereupon the three god-
desses mentioned above claimed each the prize, and Zeus re-
ferred them to Paris, the shepherd on Mount Ida, for a deci-
sion. Unwilling at first to take upon himself so much re-
sponsibility, Paris was at length persuaded to decide, on being
promised the throne of Asia by Hera, immortal fame as a
hero by Athene, and the loveliest wife on earth by Aphrodite.
He assigned the prize to the last-mentioned goddess, and by
so doing drew upon himself and his native country the most
bitter enmity of the other two.
In the meantime it happened that a sacrifice was to be of-
fered in Troy, for which oxen were wanted. Two of the
king's sons, Hektor and Helenos, were sent to the herd on
Mount Ida, to select fitting animals. Their choice included
one that was a favourite of Paris, who boldly refused to give
it up, and followed it to the town, intending to demand its
restoration from the king. But a quarrel ensued on the way,
and Paris would have fallen at his brothers' hands, but for
the timely appearance of Kassandra, who revealed the story
of his birth. Then there was joy in the king's palace at the
return of the lost son, grown up as he was, to be beautiful,
handsome, and brave. The untoward prophecy was forgotten.
The sudden change ffom the life of a herdsman to that of a
prince surrounded by the pleasures of court and town, made
Paris oblivious of the visit of the goddesses and the promise
that had been made him of the most beautiful wife on earth.
But Aphrodite meant to fulfil the promise, and to this end
commanded him to have ships built to sail to Hellas, and pro-
ceed to Sparta, where, in the person of Helena, he would
THE TROJAN WAR. 285
find the wife in question. Paris obeyed, and was accom-
panied on the journey by ^neas, a son of Anchises and
the goddess Aphrodite.
Arriving at A:nykhv\ he was met and kindly welcomed by
the Dioscuri, Kastor and Polydeukes * Pollux), the brothers
of Helena. To the same flimily (of which Zeus and Leda
were the parents) belonged Klytaemnestra, the wife of
Agamemnon, who, like her brother Kastor, was mortal,
while the other two, Helena and Pollux, were immortal. Of
the close attachment of the two brothers to each other there
is a fine instance which we shall h<:re relate, though in point
of time it did not take place till a little later. Being present,
according to invitation, at the nuptials of Lynkeus and Idas
with Phoebe and Hilaeeira, the daughters of Leukippos,
they became enamoured of the brides, and attempted to carry
them off. A fight ensued, in which Kastor, after slaying
Lynkeus, fell into the hands of Idas, whom Pollux next slew
to avenge his brother's death. Pollux then prayed to Zeus
that he might restore his brother to life, proposing as a com-
pensation that both should live only on alternate days. Zeus
granted the prayer with its condition. In after times the twin-
brothers were regarded as divine beings, and supposed to ride
on white horses in the sky, with dazzling spears, and each
with a star above his brow. In storms, when a mariner saw
a ball of fire in the air, he was assured that the Dioscuri were
near to helj) him.
After spending some time with the Dioscuri, Paris, accom-
panied by ^^neas, set out for S])arta, where he was received by
the king, Menelaos, and his wife, Helena, in the same spirit
of kindly hospitality as the brothers of the latter had displayed
at AmyklcE. Of Menelaos we have already mentioned his
286 HEROES.
descent from Atreus. The story of his marriage and its
consequences is as follows: —
Such, it would seem, had been the astonishing beauty and
grace of Helena, that even as a young girl she had captivated
the hearts of men, and, among others, of Theseus, who carried
her off. The Dioscuri, however, soon found and brought her
back, taking with them as a prisoner, ^thra, the mother of
Theseus, and presenting her as a servant to Helena. As
Helena grew to womanhood, so numerous and so pressing
were the noble suitors for her hand, that Tyndareus, her
foster-father, became alarmed at the prospect of provoking the
hostility of so many, by choosing one of them for her. He
determined, therefore, to allow her to choose for herself. But
first he called upon them all to take an oath, not only that
they would be satisfied with her choice, but would assist her
husband then and after in whatever danger or difficulty he
might be placed. She chose Menelaos, the brother of Aga-
memnon, her sister's husband, and the marriage was celebrated
with great pomp. Tyndareus, however, had omitted to offer
a sacrifice to Aphrodite, who, to punish him, made the heart
of his foster-daughter readily accessible to unbridled love.
Paris, as has been said, was kindly received by Menelaos,
and freely admitted to his hospitality and the society of his
wife, Helena, with whom he soon formed an attachment which
deepened with time, and under the influence of the costly pre-
sents of Asiatic wares wliich he gave her. Menelaos, meanwhile
suspecting nothing, i^repared to pay a visit to Idomeneus of
Crete, leaving his wife under the care of his guest. With her
husband safely at a distance, Helena was readily persuaded to
elope with Paris to Troy, to become his wife, and there live in
oriental luxury and splendour. Reaching the coast under the
THE TROJAN WAR. 287
cover of night, they embarked, and after weathering a storm
sent by Hera, the goddess of marriage troth, reached Troy in
safety, and were married witli great pomp and magnificence.
To Menelaos, at tiie court of Idomeneus in Crete, Iris, the
divine messenger, carried the intelligence of the disgrace that
had fallen on his house. Returning at once, and having con-
sulted his powerful brother, Agamemnon, he proceeded to
Pylos, to seek the advice of the aged Nestor, whose reputation
for prudence and wisdom throughout Greece had been acquired
by his services in many wars in the course of the two prece-
ding generations, such was his great age. His counsel on this
occasion was that nothing short of a combination of all the
armies of Greece would be sufficient to punish the crime
that had been committed, and recover the possession of
Helena.
Acting on this advice, Menelaos and Agamemnon visited all
the i)rinces and heroes of the -land, to obtain pledges of their
assistance. Those who had been suitors of Helena had been
bound by an oath to assist Menelaos whenever called uj^on by
him to do so, and were now ready to carry out their engage-
ment. Others promptly offered their services, from feelings of
resentment at the vileness of the act of Paris. Only in two
cases was any difficulty experienced, but they were very im-
portant cases, as it proved. The first was that of Odys.seus
(Ulysses), son of Laertes, the king of the island of Ithaka.
His beautiful and faithful wife, Penelope, had borne him a
son, Telemachos, and being in the enjoyment of perfect do-
mestic felicity, he was unwilling to exchange it for a i)art in a
war, the issue of which aj)i)eared very dubious. But instead
of returning a blunt an.^wer, he pretended insanity, put on a
fisherman's hat. yoked a horse and an ox together, and com-
HEROES.
menced to plough. But Palamedes, detecting the sham, set
the infant Telemachos on the ground in front of the plough.
In saving the child Odysseus revealed the sobriety of his
senses, and was compelled to join the expedition. The other
case was that of Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, a
nymph of the sea.
Thetis having been offered by the gods the choice in behalf
of her son, of either a long life spent in obscurity and retire-
ment, or a few years of dazzling martial fame, chose the-4ife
of obscurity, and with that view conveyed him, dressed as a
girl, to the court of Lykomedes, in the island of Skyros.
There he was brought up among the king's daughters, and
gained the love of one of them, Deidamia, who bore him a
son, Neoptolemos, who afterwards took part in the war against
Troy. Meantime it was known to be of the highest import-
ance for the Trojan expedition to discover the concealment of
the young son of Thetis, and to enlist his services. For that
purpose Odysseus was sent in the dress and character of a
trader to Skyros. On the pretext of offering his trinkets and
wares for sale to the king's daughters, he obtained admittance
to the palace, and discovered Achilles, disguised as he was.
Odysseus ordered a magnificent suit of armour to be displayed
before the youth, and a call to arms to be sounded on a mili-
tary horn. The scheme was successful — an impulse to achieve
military glory seized upon Achilles, who forthwith offered his
services to the projected expedition. Peleus sent Patroklos,
the son of Menostios, to be a companion for his son.
The harbour of Aulis was where the various contingents of
ships and soldiery were appointed to assemble; and when they
had all arrived — more than i,ooo ships, each with at least 150
men — it was a sight such as had never been seen in Greece
THE TROJAN WAR. 289
before. Agamemnon, the most powerful prince in Greece,
was elected to the position of commander of the expedition.
While the fleet lay in Aulis, a serpent was observed coiling
itself round a plane-tree, on which was a sparrow's nest with
nine young birds. The serpent devoured the young ones, but
on turning to the mother-bird was instantly changed into stone.
Kalchas, the high-priest, was summoned to divine what the
strange occurrence might betoken. He replied: **Nine years
we must fight round Ilion, and on the tenth take the town."
Thereafter the fleet sailed, crossed the ^gean, and landed by
mistake in Mysia, which the Greeks prepared to lay waste.
They were, however, stoutly opposed by the king of the coun-
try, Telephos, a son of Herakles. In the contest Patroklos
proved his bravery, fighting side by side with Achilles. He
received a wound, which Achilles — thanks to his early training
under the Centaur Cheiron, and the knowledge of medicine
then obtained — was able to cure. Telephos also had received
a wound from a spear of Achilles in the engagement, and,
finding that it would not heal, consulted an oracle regarding
it. The reply of the oracle was that it could be healed only
by him who had caused it. Meantime another oracle was
communicated to the Greeks, to the intent that Telephos
should lead them to Troy. How this came about we shall see
presently.
The Greek fleet had returned again to the harbour of Aulis.
While lying there, Agamemnon had chanced to see a beautiful
stag, sacred to Artemis. His passion for the chase led him to
draw upon the stag, and kill it, while in the pride of his suc-
cess he dared to boast that he could excel the goddess of the
chase herself. This was the cause of a series of misfortunes
that then befel him. The injured goddess first sent a calm
19
290 HEROES.
which detained the fleet week after week. In spite of Palame-
des' invention of the game of draughts and other means of
amusement, the prolonged inactivity began to tell upon the
force, and to create serious discontent. At last Kalchas, be-
ing ordered to discover what the gods desired, explained that
Artemis required, on the part of Agamemnon, the sacrifice of
his daughter Iphigeneia. His fatherly feelings had to yield
to his sense of duty as commander of the expedition. He
sent a message to his wife Klytaemnestra, to come to Aulis,
bringing Iphigeneia with her, — to be married, he said to
Achilles. They came ; but it was as a victim, not as a bride,
that Agamemnon led his daughter to the altar of Artemis.
The goddess, satisfied with his intentions, suddenly appeared
on the scene, provided a goat for the sacrifice, carried off
Iphigeneia in a cloud to Taurus, and appointed her to the
care of her temple there. Klytaemnestra could not forgive
her husband for the deception he had practiced. How she
avenged herself shall be afterwards related.
In consequence of the oracle concerning the wound which
he had received from the spear of Achilles, Telephos proceeded
to Aulis, where the Greek fleet lay, and presented himself in
disguise to Agamemnon, seized his infant son, Orestes, whom
•Klytaemnestra had brought with her, and threatened to slay
the child, if healing were refused him. Odysseus interposed,
and scraping some of the rust from the spear of Achilles, ap-
plied it to the wound, and healed it. Thereupon Telephos
offered his services in leading the expedition to Troy, and,
the oracle being thus fulfilled, the Greeks set sail a second
time for Troy landing on their way at Lemnos, to sacrifice at
an altar raised there by Herakles, Philoktetes, who had in-
herited the bow and arrows of Herakles, was bitten in the
THE FIRST YEARS OF THE WAR. 29 1
foot by a snake, and suffered agony that made him scream
continually. Unable to heal the wound, and unwilling to
endure his screams, the Greeks left him behind, and proceeded
on their journey, reaching at last the Trojan shore.
The First Years of- the War.
The Trojans having received intelligence of the hostile pre-
parations of the Greeks, prepared on their part also to meet
the enemy, assembling in and around the city of Troy all the
forces they could obtain from neighbours and allies. Their
foremost hero, whom they chose to lead them in assaults, was
Hektor, the eldest son of the king. The first engagement
of the two forces occurred while the Greeks were in the act of
landing from their ships, the result of it being that the Trojans
were driven back within their walls, but not without inflicting
considerable loss on their enemy. The first attempt of the
Greeks to take the town by storm entirely failed, and, findijig
that the Trojans would not surrender Helena to her husband,
the Greek commander could see no other means of compelling
them to do so than by a siege. Accordingly a well-fortified
camp was constructed round the ships, which had been hauled
up on the shore, and with that camp to fall back upon, the
Greek army proceeded to lay waste the territory and towns in
the neighbourhood. The Trojan forces, acknowledging the
superiority of the besiegers, did not seek a battle, and ex-
cepting such incidents as when Achilles and Hektor fought in
single combat, or when Troilos, the youngest son of Priam,
was captured and put to death by Achilles, nothing of mo-
ment transpired.
In the course of the raids matlc by the Greeks in the neigh-
292 , HEROES.
bourhood, it happened that having taken the town of Pedasos,
and come to divide the spoils, Agamemnon obtained as his
captive Chryseis, a daughter of Chryses, the priest of
Apollo in the island of Chryse, while to the lot of Achilles
fell Brise'is, a maiden as beautiful as tlie priest's daughter.
Chryses entreated Agamemnon to restore him his daughter,
offering a heavy ransom for her, but was met with refusal
and contumely. Having one other resource — an appeal to
the god in whose service he was — Chryses implored the aid
of Apollo, who, being for other reasons also hostile to the
Greeks, visited them with a plague which carried them off in
great numbers. Agamemnon called a muster of the army,
and inquired of the high-priest, Kalchas, by what the angry
god could be appeased. Kalchas, being assured of the pro-
tection of Achilles, boldly declared that the wrath of Apollo
had been caused by the unjust detention of Chryseis, a
daughter of one of the priests. Upon this, Agamemnon, who
had borne a grudge against Kalchas ever since the sacrifice
of Iphigeneia, rated the priest in reproachful terms, charging
him also in the present instance with being in league with
Achilles — a charge which the latter would have resented with
force, had not the goddess Athene interposed. Agamemnon
felt his dignity as king and commander of the army insulted
by the threat of Achilles, and demanded as satisfaction for
this the person of the beautiful Briseis, apparently to take the
place of Chryseis, whom he had been compelled to give up.
Achilles having been warned by Athene to be calm, confessed
his inaljility to resist the demand, and from lliat time with-
drew with all his men from the camp.
Thetis having beseeched Zeus to take measures to c()mi)el
^gam'.•l^n(>Il to atone f(;r this insuU to her son, obtained a
THE FIRST YEARS OF THE WAR.
divine decree setting forth that so long as Achilles held aloof
the Greeks woiikl be defeated in every engagement with the
Trojans. Emboldened by the intelligence of the step taken
by Achilles, the Trojans sallied from their walls, and after
numerous battles, skirmishes, and ])ersonal encounters, always
attended with serious loss to the enemy, drove the Greeks
back to the shelter of their fortified camp beside the ships.
At last, abased ami humiliated by disasters, Agamemnon sent
an embassy to Achilles, offering to restore Briseis, and in ad-
dition to bestow on him his daughter's hand, with seven towns
for a dowry. But the wrath of Achilles would not relent, and
still the need of his countrymen grew worse.
The end seemed to be near when Hektor, at the head of
the Trojans, had stormed the wall of the camp, and set
several of the ships on fire. Seeing this, Patroklos begged
Achilles to lend him his armour, and allow him to h.'ad the
Myrmidons to the fight. The request being granted, Pa-
troklos and his men were soon in the heat of the battle, their
sudden reappearance striking the Trojan army with terror,
and causing it to fall back. Not content with thus deciding
the battle, Patroklos, disregarding the advice of Achilles,
pursued the enemy till Hektor, turning round, engaged him
in a hand-to-hand fight, the issue of which was the death of
the Greek hero. Hektor stripped him of the armour of
A.chilles, which he wore, but left the body for the Greeks to
take possession of. The grief of Achilles at the loss of his
friend was as violent as had been his anger against Agamem-
non. He called for vengeance on Hektor, and with the ob-
ject in view of obtaining it, yielded to a reconciliation wliith
all the sufferings of his countrymen could not i)reviously in-
duce him to submit to. With armour more dazzling and
294 HEROES.
superb than had ever been seen before, forged by the god He-
phaestos, and brought by Thetis in the hour of her son's need,
he went forth to battle, seeking Hektor in the Trojan ranks,
which everywhere hurried back like sheep before a wolf. The
Trojan hero stepped forth to meet his adversary, but not with-
out sad misgivings. He had said farewell to his faithful wife,
Andromache, and to his boy, Astyanax. But even the
strong sense of duty to his country, which had supported him
in this domestic scene, deserted him utterly when the young
Greek hero approached with the dauntless bearing of the god
of war himself. Hektor fled ; but Achilles, having a faster step,
cut off his retreat, and thus imbued him with the courage of
despair. The combat did not last long, the victory of Achilles
being easily won.
Unappeased by the death of Hektor, Achilles proceeded to
outrage his lifeless body by binding it to his war-chariot.
After dragging it thus three times round the walls of Troy in
the face of the people, he returned with it to the Greek camp,
and there cast it among dust and dirt. Displeased by such
excess of passion, the gods took care of Hektor's body, and
saved it from corruption, while Zeus in the meantime softened
the heart of Achilles, and prepared him for the performance
of an act of generosity which was to blot out the memory of
his previous cruelty. On the one hand, Thetis was employed
to persuade her son to give up the body without a ransom.
On the other hand, Hermes was sent to bid Priam go stealth-
ily in the night to Achilles' tent, and beg the body of his
son. The aged king of Troy obeyed, and coming to the
young hero's tent, besought him, as he valued his own father,
to give him leave to take away the lifeless body, and pay to it
the customary rites of burial. Achilles was touched by the
THE DEATH OF ACHILLES. 295
gentleness of liis beseeching, raiseil the old man from his
knees, shared with him the hospitality of his tent, and, in the
morning, having given up the body, sent him back under a
safe escort. In the pause of hostilities that took place then,
the Greeks buried tlie body of Patroklos with great ceremony.
The Death of Achilles.
The loss of Hektor had so dispirited the Trojans, that
without fresh succours they could not face the enemy again.
Such succours, however, consisting of an army of Amazons,
under the command of the beautiful Penthesilea, arrived
in the interval of mourning for Hektor in the one camp and
for Patroklos in the other. When hostilities commenced
again, the valiant Penthesilea, being eager to measure her
strength with that of Achilles, and to avenge the death of
Hektor, led the Trojan army into battle. The leaders of the
Greeks were Achilles and Ajax, the son of Telamon. While
the latter hero was engaged in driving back the Trojan ranks,
Achilles and Penthesilea met in single combat. He would
have spared her willingly, and did not, till compelled in self-
defence, strike with all his might. Then she fell mortally
wounded, and as she fell, remembering the fate of Hektor's
body, implored Achilles to spare hers that disgrace. There
was no need of this ; for he, to save her still if possible, and if
not, to soothe her last moments, lifted her in his arms, and
there held her till she died. The Trojans and Amazons made
a combined rush to rescue the body of their leader; but
Achilles made a sign to them to halt, and praising her valour,
youth, and beauty, gave it to them freely — a kindly act which
touched friends and foes alike. Among the Greeks, however.
296 HEROES.
there was one Thersites, mean and deformed in mind as well
as body, who not only dared to impute a scandalous motive to
Achilles, but, approaching the fallen Amazon, struck his spear
into her lightless eye. A sudden blow from Achilles laid him
lifeless on the ground.
All who saw this punishment inflicted approved of it, except
Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, a relation by blood of Ther-
sites, who stepped forward and demanded of Achilles the usual
reparation, consisting of a sum of money. Feeling himself
deeply wronged because his countrymen, and especially Aga-
memnon, did not unconditionally take his part in the matter,
Achilles abandoned for a second time the cause of the Greeks,
and took ship to Lesbos. Odysseus was sent after him, and
by dint of smooth words, cleverly directed, succeeded in
bringing him back to the camp.
What made the return of Achilles more urgent at that time
was the arrival of a new ally to the Trojans, in the person of
Memnon, a son of Eos (Aurora) and Tithonos, who besides
being the son of a goddess, as well as Achilles, appeared fur-
ther to be a proper match for him, inasmuch as he also carried
armour fashioned by Hephaestos. Wlien the two heroes met,
and were fighting fiercely, Zeus received in Olympos a simul-
taneous visit from their respective mothers, Thetis and Eos,
both imploring him to spare their sons. He answered that
the issue must abide the will of Fate, Moera, to discover which
he took the golden balance for weighing out life and death,
and placing in one scale the fate of Achilles and in the other
that of Memnon, saw the latter sink to denote his death. Eos
made haste to the battle-field, but found her son dead. She
carried away his body, and buried it in his native land, in
the distant east.
IIIF. DEATH OF ACHILLES. 297
Achilles did not long enjoy his triumph ; for, animated by
sucf^ess, he led on tlic Oreeks, and would have captured Troy,
however clearly the Fates might have decreed the contrary,
had not Apollo given unerring flight to an arrow drawn by
Paris. By that shaft from an unworthy source, as far as could
be judged, Achilles fell. Ajax, the stout hero, and Odysseus,
clever as well as brave, seized his body, and fighting all the
way carried it back to camp, where its burial was attended
with extraordinary pomp and ceremonial, the Muses chanting
dolorous lays, and the heroes who had known him personally
taking part, as was the custom on such occasions, in athletic
competitions. Tlie armour which he had worn in the fight
was offered by Thetis to the most deserving. Only two claims
were preferred, and those were on behalf of the two heroes
wlio had rescued his body. The award being given in favour
of Odysseus, Ajax, from grief at what he deemed neglect, sank
into a state of insanity, in the course of which he intentionally
fell upon his sword, and died.
A cessation of hostilities was obtained on the death of
Achilles and Ajax, the two foremost of the Greek heroes. This
period of peace having expired, and the former conditions of
war having been resumed, the first event of importance that
occurred was the capture of Helenos, a son of Priam, who,
like his sister, Kassandra, was endowed with the gift of pro-
jjhecy. Odysseus, who had made the capture, compelled
llelenos to disclose the measures by which it was decreed that
the siege should be brought to a determination. The answer
was, that to take the city of Troy, and thus close the siege,
three things were necessary: i, the assistance of the son of
Achilles, Neoptolemos ; 2, the bow and arrows of Herakles ;
3, the possession of the Palladium (an image of the goddess
298 HEROES.
Pallas- Athene), which was carefully preserved in the citadel of
Troy. In satisfying the first condition no difficulty was ex-
perienced. Odysseus, always ready to be of service for the
common good, proceeded to Skyros, where he found Neop-
tolemos grown to manhood, and thirsting for martial renown.
A present of the splendid armour which his father, Achilles,
had worn and which Odysseus now magnanimously parted
with, fired the youth's ambition, and led him easily to Troy,
where he distinguished himself in a combat with Eurypylos
(a son of Telephos), who had joined the Trojan ranks.
A more serious matter was the fulfilment of the second con-
dition, seeing that the bow and arrows of Herakles were then
in the possession of Philoktetes, whom, as we have already
said, the Greeks abandoned at Lemnos, not caring to endure
the screams caused by the wound in his foot. His feelings
were known to be rancorous towards the Greeks. Notwith-
standing that, Odysseus, accompanied by Diomedes (or, as
others say, by Neoptolemos), went to Lemnos, and successfully
tricked Philoktetes into following him to Troy, where his
wound was healed by Machseon, a son of Asklepios, and a
reconciliation was effected between him and Agamemnon.
The first on whom his fatal arrows were tried was Paris, after
whose death Helena married his brother, Deiphobos. The
Trojans were now completely shut up within the town, no one
daring to face the arrows of Philoktetes.
There remained, however, a third condition — the seizure
of the Palladium. Odysseus, successful in the other two, and
undaunted by the greater difficulty of the new adventure, pro-
posed to steal alone within the walls of Troy in the disguise
of a beggar, and as a first measure to find out where the Pal-
ladium was preserved. He did so, and remained unrecognized
THE CAFfURE OF TROY. 299
excej)t by Helena, who, liaving felt ever sinr.e the death of
Paris a yearning for Menclaos, proved to be a valuable ally.
Odysseus, in the meantime, returned to the Greek camp to
obtain the assistance of Diomedes. The two having made
their way back to Troy, laid hold of the Palladium, and, car-
rying it off in safety, fulfilled the third and last condition.
The next difficulty was the plan of assault to be adopted.
It was proposed by Odysseus, on the suggestion of the god-
dess Athene, that Epeios, a famous sculptor, should make a
great v/ooden horse, sufficiently large to hold inside a number
of the bravest Greeks, and that the horse being ready, and
the heroes concealed within it beyond detection, the whole
Greek army should embark and set sail, as if making home-
ward. The plan of Odysseus was agreed to, and great was
the joy of the Trojans when they saw the fleet set sail. The
people, scarcely trusting their eyes, flocked to the abandoned
camp, to make sure. There they found nothing remaining
but a great wooden horse, about the use of which various
opinions arose — some thinking it an engine of war, and de-
manding its instant destruction. But the opinion that pre-
vailed most was that it must have been an object of religious
veneration, and if so, ought to be taken into the city. Among
those who thought otherwise was Laokoon, a priest of Apollo,
who had arrived on the scene, accompanied by his two young
sons, to ofler a sacrifice to the god in whose service he was.
Laokoon warned his countrymen in no case to accept this gift
of the Greeks, and went so far as to thrust his spear into the
belly of the horse, upon which the weapons of the heroes
within were heard to clash, and the bystanders were all but
convinced of the justice of the priest's opinion. But the gods
had willed it otherwise, and to turn the opinion of the people
300 HEROES.
against Laokoon, sent a judgment upon him in the shape of
two enormous serpents, which, while he and his two sons were
engaged in sacrificing at an altar by the shore, issued from
the sea, and casting their coils round the two boys first, then
round the father, who came to their assistance, caused him to
die in great agony. The scene is reoresented in a marble
group now in the Vatican, from which *the figure in Plate
XXXIV. is taken. The mysterious fate of Laokoon-^w^as
readily believed to be a punishment for the violence he had
done to the sacred horse.
But to carry out effectually the stratagem of the horse,
Odysseus had left behind on the shore his friend Sinon, with
his hands bound, and presenting all the appearance of a victim
who had escaped sacrifice, which he professed to be. The
good king Priam was touched by the piteous story which Sinon
told, ordered his bonds to be struck off, and inquired the
purpose of the horse. Sinon replied that it was a sacred
object, and would, if taken into the city, be a guarantee of
the protection of the gods, as the Palladium had been before.
The city gates being too small, part of the wall was broken
through, and the horse conducted in triumph towards the
citadel. This done, the Trojans, believing that the Greeks
had abandoned the siege in despair, gave way to festivity and
general rejoicing, which lasted well into the night.
When the town had become perfectly quiet, the inhabitants,
exhausted by the unusual excitement, being fast asleep, Sinon
approached the horse, and opened a secret door in its side.
The heroes then stepped out, and made a fire signal to the
fleet, which lay concealed behind the neighbouring island of
Tenedos, and now advanced quietly to the shore. The troops
having disembarked and made their way silently to the city.
THE DEATH OF AGAMEMNON. 30I
there ensued a fearful slaughter, the surprised inhabitants
falling thickly before the well-armed Greeks. Finally the
town was set on fire in every corner, and utterly destroyed.
Priam fell by the hand of Neoptolemos. The same fate befel
the son of Hektor — not for anything that he had done, but
that he might not grow up to avenge his father's death. Of
the few Trojans who escaped were ^€*^neas, his father Anchises,
and his infant son Askanios. Carrying his aged father on his
shoulders, ^neas fled towards Mount Ida, and thence to
Italy, where he became the founder of a new race.
Menelaos became reconciled to his now penitent wife,
Helena, and took her back with him. The Trojan women of
rank and beauty were distributed among the Greek heroes as
captives in war, Neoptolemos obtaining Andromache, the
widow of Hektor, and Agamemnon carrying off Priam's
daughter, Kassandra. The extensive booty from the king's
palaces having been divided, preparations were made for
returning home. While some — as, for example, Nestor,
Idomeneus, Diomedes, Philoktetes, and Neoptolemos — had
favourable voyages, and reached their respective homes in
safety, others, like Menelaos, were driven hither and thither
by storms, which delayed their passage for years. But the
heroes to whose return the greatest interest attaches, were
Agamemnon and Odysseus.
Agamemnon, returning after an absence of ten years, found
that his wife, Klytaemnestra, had in the meantime accepted as
her husband iEgisthos, a son of Thyestes, and therefore of
an accursed line. These two proposed to compass the death
of Agamemnon ; and he, though warned of their designs by
Kassandra, whose prophetic power enabled her to foresee the
issue, lent himself easily to their purpose, innocently accepting
302 HEROES.
as genuine his wife's expression of joy. He entered the warm
bath that had been prepared for him, but on coming out of it,
found himself entangled in a piece of cloth which his wife
threw over his head. In this helpless condition he was slain
by her and ^gisthos, Kassandra and many of his followers
perishing with him. His young son Orestes contriving to
escape with the help of his sister Elektra, fled to Phokis,
where he was received hospitably, and remained several years,
during which ^gisthos ruled over Argos on the throne of
Agamemnon.
A few years after the murder of Agamemnon an oracle of
Apollo was communicated to Orestes, commanding him to
revenge that foul deed, and promising the assistance of the
god. Without being recognized he arrived at Mykenae, ac-
companied by his faithful friend Pylades, and there revealed
himself to his sister Elektra, while to his mother he professed
to be a messenger come with intelligence of the death of her
son Orestes. Seeing her and ^gisthos rejoice at the news,
he was enraged, and slew her, while her husband fell at the
hands of Pylades.
The shedding of a mother's blood was regarded as the
blackest crime on earth ; and though the fact that Orestes had
perpetrated the deed to avenge the murder of his father, and
at the instigation of Apollo, went far to exculpate him, it did
not satisfy the malignant Erinys (Furies), who pursued him
from land to land, permitting no peace to his throbbing heart.
Arriving, in the course of his wanderings, at Delphi, Orestes
complained to Apollo of his sufferings, and was told by the
god that he might expect relief if he could fetch the ancient
statue of the goddess Artemis from Taurus. The difficulty of
the task consisted in this, that it was the practice of the Tauric
ORESTES. 303
Artemis to secure the immolation of all strangers that ap-
proached her temple. Fortunately for Orestes, as it happened,
his sister Iphigeneia held the office of priestess there, having
been carried away, as we have already seen, by the goddess at
the moment when she was to be sacrificed by her father Aga-
memnon. On arriving at the temple, Orestes, who was accom-
panied by Pylades, was seized, and would have been sacrificed
by the hand of his own sister, had not an accident revealed
the relationship. He told her all that had happened, and
how Apollo had commanded him to carry away the statue of
the goddess. With the assistance of Iphigeneia he obtained
possession of the image, and in her company returned with it
to Greece.
The task imposed by Apollo was accomplished, but still
the relentless Furies continued to persecute the unhappy
youth, Apollo then advised him to proceed to Athens, and
there to call for a trial in the Areopagus, a court appointed
to hear causes of murder, especially the murder of a relative.
(See "Ares"). The goddess Athene appealed for justice in
his behalf. Apollo defended him at the trial. The Erinys
appeared as plaintifTs. When the pleadings had been heard,
and the votes of the judges came to be taken, they were found
to be equally divided for and against. The right of giving
the casting vote was reserved on this occasion for Athene,
who, stepping forward, took up a white voting-stone, and
placing it among the votes favourable to Orestes, declared his
lawful acquittal. The Erinys professed themselves appeased,
desisted from persecution, and from that time enjoyed the
title of Eumenides. (See ** Erinys"). Thus acquitted, and
purified from the stains of crime, Orestes ascended the throne
of his father Agamemnon, in Mykenae, married Hermione,
304 HEROES.
the daughter of Helena and Menelaos, and at their death suc-
ceeded to the dominion of Sparta also.
Turning Iiow to Odysseus, we find him, long after the other
heroes of the Trojan expedition had reached their homes, still
being tossed about by storms, passing through great perils,
encountering strange beings, and ultimately succeeding in
many unhopeful adventures. He had left Troy with a well-
manned fleet richly laden with spoil, and after several -ad^
ventures of less moment, in which, however, he lost a number
of men, reached the country of the Kyklopes — enormous
giants with only one eye. In a cave which was the habitation
of one of them, Polyphemos by name, a son of the sea-
god Poseidon, Odysseus and his fellow-travellers took shelter,
while their ships lay anchored beside a neighbouring island.
Polyphemos, who was absent at the time of their arrival,
returned with his sheep to the cave. The first thing he did
on entering was to close up the entrance with a great stone,
which a hundred men could not have moved. The next thing
was, having discovered the strangers, to eat two of them for
his supper, after which he slept soundly. The following
morning, after driving out his sheep, he replaced the stone at
the mouth of the cave, to prevent the escape of his victims,
and the consequent loss of several suppers. The history of
the first day having repeated itself on the two following days,
a plan of escape occurred to Odysseus. The giant having
had his usual supper, Odysseus offered him some wine, which
had the effect of creating a desire for more. His goblet
being constantly replenished, Polyphemos at last sank help-
less, through sleep and intoxication. Seeing this, Odysseus,
with the help of his companions, laid hold of a great pole,
and having made the end of it red hot, let it down on the
THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS. 305
giant's eye, and burned it out. Polyphemos sprang up in
great fury, and after groping in vain for his supple enemies,
made for the doorway of the cave, removed the stone, and
sat down in its place, determined to permit no one to escape.
But Odysseus and his companions fastened themselves each
under the belly of one of the great sheep within the cave,
knowing that the giant would let them pass out unmolested.
And so it was; for, feeling the fleece as they passed, he was
quite satisfied. Odysseus once outside the cave, and with
what remained of his crew safe in the ship, shouted jeeringly
back to the Kyklops, telling him also his name. Polyphemos
then implored his father, the god Poseidon, to punish Odys-
seus for what he had just done. It was in answer to this
prayer that Odysseus was driven hither and thither, detained
here and there, and at last, after ten years* wandering, and
the loss of all his men, reached home in a miserable plight.
Of the adventures that befel him after leaving the country
of the Kyklopes, the most important were the following: —
After leaving ^£olos, the king of the winds, and suffering the
misfortune already related (see ''^olos"), he reached the
habitation of the sorceress Circe (a sister of Medea, it was
said), whose first act was to transform his companions into
swine. For Odysseus himself her charms had no potency.
He compelled her to restore his men to their proper human
form. Changing her manner, Circe now exhibited a cordial
feeling towards Odysseus, entertaining him and his companions
very hospitably for the period of a year, on the expiry of which
she advised him to make a journey to the lower world, to ques-
tion the shade of the seer Teiresias as to the fate in store for
him. Acting on her advice, Odysseus penetrated to the region
of Hades, saw and conversed with the shades of some of his
■ 20
3o6
HEROES.
former companions in the siege of Troy, and then returned to
Circe, who gave him good counsel in regard to his future
journey. On his voyage homeward he passed the Sirens
safely (see "Sirens"), passed Scylla the sea-monster, with loss
of six men, and afterwards, in spite of the warnings both of
Teiresias and Circe, landed on the island of Trinakia, where
his companions plundered the sacred flocks of the sun-god.
As a punishment for this they were afterwards overtaken^hj^ a
fearful storm at sea, and all perished except Odysseus, who,
clinging to a piece of his ship for nine days, was at length
driven on shore on the island belonging to the nymph Kalypso,
who received him kindly, and out of love detained him as her
prisoner for seven years.
Despising her love and her offer of immortality, Odysseus
sat disconsolate by the sea-shore, thinking of his home in
Ithaka, and yearning to see it again before he died. The gods,
taking compassion on him, prevailed on Kalypso to let him
go. He made a raft, and put to sea; but Poseidon, not yet
appeased for the wrong done to his son Polyphemos, raised a
storm which shattered the small craft, and would have caused
Odysseus to perish but for the timely aid of the sea-nymph
Leukothea. Swimming to land, he found himself in the
island of the Phaeakians, was discovered on the shore by the
king's daughter, Nausikaa, and entertained hospitably by the
king, Alkinoos, to whom he related his adventures. After re-
ceiving many costly presents, he was conveyed home to Ithaka
in a well-manned ship. There he found his wife, Penelope,
still faithful to him, in spite of the incessant wooing of all the
princes of the neighbouring islands in the course of her
hui^band's long absence.
His son, Tclemachos, whom he left an infant, had now
ROMULUS AND REMUS. 307
grown to manhood, and having just arrived from a journey
in search of intelligence concerning his missing father, was
staying in the house of a shepherd when Odysseus arrived, and
heard the story of how the suitors of Penelope were vexing
her and consuming her husband's i)os6essions. Odysseus and
his son appeared among them in disguise, raised a quarrel,
and with tlie help of Athene, slew them all. Then took place
the touching meeting with his wife. After crushing an in-
surrection raised by the friends of the slain suitors, Odysseus
spent the rest of his life in reigning peacefully over his island
kingdom of Ithaka.
ROMULUS AND REMUS.
The Romans had no heroes in the sense in which we have
come to regard tliat word from a study of the Greek legends.
Romulus and Remus, it is true, have a legendary character,
which may be compared in some respects with that of several
Greek heroes. They were the offspring of a god (Mars) and a
vestal virgin. They were exposed to death at their birth,
were suckled by a she-wolf, were preserved and brought up
among herdsmen. On arriving at manhood, they returned to
claim their inheritance, and founded the city of Rome, Romu-
lus naming it after himself. They instituted festivals — the
Palilia and Lupercalia — the latter to commemorate their
having been nourished by a wolf. They established the
priesthood of Arval Brothers. Remus, less fortunate in his
adventures, was slain. His brother Romulus was at last car-
ried up bodily to heaven in the presence of the people, and in
the course of a storm of thunder and lightning. A simple hut
on the Palatine hill was preserved with veneration as the
3o8 HEROES.
sanctuary of Romulus. But the demand for historical truth,
or the appearance of it, was too strong in Rome to permit a
poetic embellishment of the story, such as it would have ex-
perienced in Greece.
HORATIUS COCLES.
The ancient Roman ballads sang of the brave Horatius,
who had fought so well in the old wars raised by the exiled
Royal family and their partisans. A golden statue of him
stood in the market-place, and beside it sacrifice was offered
in his memory. Such honours were the same as were ap-
pointed for Greek heroes. But the story of the deeds of
Horatius wanted, nevertheless the true legendary character,
and was probably accepted by the people with m.ore of pride
than pious feeling.
3 GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
n kinsfolk — the Greeks — the Teutons
y people. Their mythical tales were
but in memory. And Christianity,
. J .he missionaries and by Charlemagne
himself, did its best to destroy Teutonic paganism root and
branch. Hence it happens that of the myths of the gods and
heroes of those great nations who, in pre-Christian times, in-
habited the territories now included under the general name
Germany, no complete and systematic account has been trans-
mitted to modern times.
But the old Germans were of the same race with the people
of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Their speech was essen-
tially the same. They had the same social and domestic
customs, and the Svime religion. Further, during the time
when Christianity was spreading over Germany and Scandina-
via, that exodus of the Norsemen was likewise taking place
which ended in the colonization of Iceland — or Snowland, as
it was also named by its discoverers in the middle of the ninth
century. There, **on the verge," as Dr. Dasent says, '*of
the polar circle," the Vikings established their little indepen-
dent principalities or republics; unmcddlcd witli by Christian
309
3o8 HEROES.
sanctuary of Romulus. But the demand for historical truth,
or the appearance of it, was too strong in Rome to permit a
poetic embellishment of the story, such as it would have ex-
perienced in Greece.
HORATIUS COCLES.
The ancient Roman ballads sang of the brave Horatius,
who had fought so well in the old wars raised by the exiled
Royal family and their partisans. A golden statue of him
stood in the market-place, and beside it sacrifice was offered
in his memory. Such honours were the same as were ap-
pointed for Greel'"*-Vfroea*_^_But the story of the deeds of
Horatius wanted, ~^^^rlp^endary character,
and was probably iore of pride
than pious feelin /
77f
NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
UNX,IKE their Aryan kinsfolk — the Greeks — the Teutons
were not a literary people. Their mythical tales were
preserved not in books, but in memory. And Christianity,
as represented alike by the missionaries and by Charlemagne
himself, did its best to destroy Teutonic paganism root and
branch. Hence it happens that of the myths of the gods and
heroes of those great nations who, in pre-Christian times, in-
habited the territories now included under the general name
Germany, no complete and systematic account has been trans-
mitted to modern times.
But the old Germans were of the same race with the people
of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Their speech was essen-
tially the same. They had the same social and domestic
customs, and the same religion. Further, during the time
when Christianity was spreading over Germany and Scandina-
via, that exodus of the Norsemen was likewise taking place
which ended in the colonization of Iceland — or Snowland, as
it was also named by its discoverers in the middle of the ninth
century. There, **on the verge," as Dr. Dasent says, "of
the polar circle," the Vikings established their little indepen-
dent principalities or republics; unmcddlcd with by Christian
309
3IO NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
priests, and disdaining the continental kings who were aping
the customs of the new times, the Icelandic Norsemen pre-
served, for five centuries more, the pure faith of their fore-
fathers.
Lastly there appears to have been less antagonism, less
friction, between the two rival religions — Odinism and Chris-
tianity— in Iceland than in other countries. Its Christian
priests would seem to have felt the loyalty of children towards
their old faith, then dying away. Hence, in a measure, the
complete and systematic form in which the Icelanders were
able to leave a permanent record of their mythology. It was
a Christian priest — Sigmund Sigfusson — who, in the middle
of the eleventh century, composed the compilation of mythi-
cal poems known as the elder Edda. To the succeeding
century belongs the younger Edda, which is merely a prose
rendering of those portions of the first work which narrate the
creation of the world and man, and the generation, adventures,
functions, and ultimate fate of the gods. As a cosmogony
and theogony this Edda, or, as the word might be para-
phrased, ''Tales of a Grandmother," is as complete even as
its Greek prototype, the Theogony of Hesiod. And as a re-
cord and expression of the spiritual life of those Teutons, who
also were the progenitors of our English race, it is, or surely
ought to be, incomparably more interesting.
THE CREATION.
In the prose Edda, Ginki, the wise king, travels in search of
knowledge to the home of the Asa folk — the Norse gods —
each of whom supplies the visitor with some piece of special
information. The cosmogonic history thus patched up between
HE CRKATION. 3I I
them closely corresponds in main points with that contained in
the Hesiodic poem; while its special details, tone, and colour-
ing are the expression of special climatic conditions. Where
the earth now is there was in the beginning, says the Edda, no
sand, sea, or grass, but only an empty space (Ginnunga-gap),
on whose north side lay the region of mist, ice, and snow,
(Niflheim) and 'on its south side the region of warmth and
sunlight, (Muspelheim). The warm breaths from the sun-land
caused the ice to melt, and topple over into Ginnunga-gap ;
and from the matter so accumulated sprang the huge Ymir, an-
cestor of the Reimthursen, Rime, or Frost, — giants. Ymir
fed on the milk of the cow Audhumbla, whose name, it may
be observed, in the Zendavesta, stands indifferently for
** cow" or mother-earth. The cow herself lived by licking
the ice-blocks ; from which, in consequence of the licking,
was produced Bori, who is alike the fashioner of the world,
and the father of Bor, who was the father of Odin. Odin's
brothers were Wili and We : and just as in Hesiod the deities
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades supplant Kronos, so the sons of
Bori overthrow and succeed the primitive dynasty of Ymir
and the Frost Gtants. Also, the dead Ymir is turned to ac-
count similarly with the dead Kronos. His flesh becomes
earth; his blood, the sea; his bones, the mountains; his
teeth, cliffs and crags; his skull, the heavens, wherein his
brains float in the form of clouds. The heavens, are sup-
ported by four Dwarves — Austri (east), Westri (west) Nordri
(north), and Sudri (south) ; and the stars in it are the sparks
from the fire-land of Muspelheim. The new world thus
fashioned was called Midgard, as being placed midway be-
tween the lands of frost and fire. To preserve it and its in-
habitants from the giants, who dwelt in Jotunheim, Odin and
312 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
his brother surrounded it with a fence made from the eye-
brows of Ymir. The inhabitants themselves were said to have
been produced from two pieces of wood which the brothers
found floating on the sea, and changed into a man, whom
they named Ash, and a woman, whom they named Ernbla.
From this middle world, or Midgard, arose the Norse
Olympos, or Asgard, whereon dwelt the Asa folk — Odinjnd
the twelve Aesir. It contained two mansions — Gladsheim for
the gods, and Vingolf for the goddesses. There also was
Walhalla, wherein Odin placed one-half of the heroes slain
in battle, the other half being received by Freija, the wife of
Odin. Besides those already named there were, as the Edda
says, other homesteads, such as Elfheim, where the elves
dwelt ; Breidablick, where dwelt the bright and beautiful, far-
seeing Baldur; Himinbiorg, or the Heaven-tower of the
thunder-god Thor; and Valaskialf, whence Odin could watch
all gods and men. The gods also met in daily council beneath
the branches of the tree Yggdrasil, one of whose roots grew
in Asgard, the second in Niflheim, and the third in the realm
of Hela, or Death : and their way thither lay over the bright
Asa-bridge, or Bifraust, or Rainbow, which was said to burn
all a-fire, so as to keep away the Frost giants of Jotunheim.
Lastly, the
LOWER WORLD
was ruled by the goddess Hel ; and to it were consigned those
who had not died in battle. It was so far away that Odin's
swift horse Sleipnir took nine nights to reach it. The river
GioU — the Norse Styx — surrounded this lower world on every
side. Nastrand was the name of the worst spot in the Norse
hell. Its roofs and doors were wattled with hissing snakes.
XXXV.
Odin.
THE AESIR. — ODIN. 313
ejecting poison, through which perjurers and murderers were
forced to wade by way of punishment.
THE AESIR,
"Whose thrones were in Gladsheim, were twelve in number.
Their names were — Thor, Baldr, Freyr, Tyr, Bragi, Hudr,
Heimdall, Vithar, Valij Ullr, Ve, Forseti. Thus, with Odin,
the "All-father," whose throne rose above the other twelve,
the great gods of the Norse Pantheon were thirteen in number.
ODIN.
(plate XXXV.)
The physical origin of the idea of Odin is evident, first,
from the meaning of his name, and, secondly, from the various
attributes assigned to him. The word Odin is simply another
form of V/oden, or Wuotan, which Grimm connects with the
Latin vadei-c. He is thus the moving, life-giving breath or air
of heaven; and as such corresponds to the Hindoo Brahmin
=rAtman (German, Athem), or ever-present life and energy.
His Greek correlative is, of course, Zeus, who is likewise
spoken of as All-father. The name Zeus is derived from a
root signifying "to shine," and thus the King of the Greek
Asgard was originally "the glistening ether." It was but
natural that Odin, as the personification of the blue sky,
should rule the rain-clouds and the sunlight ; hence as Odin
the rain-giver he corresponds with Zeus Ombrios (the showery
Zeus), while as the light-god he is merely a Norse Phoebos
or Apollo, whose spear — the sun rays — disperses the darkness.
As sky-gpd, and god of the moving air, he was, no less natu-
314 NORSE AND OLD GERRIAN MYTHOLOGY.
rally or inevitably, invoked as the protector of sailors. In
this respect he corresponds or is interchangeable with Thor.
But this interchange, or overlapping, of functions is as distinc-
tive of Norse as of Greek mythology. Finally, Zeus and
Odin resemble each other in their development from purely
physical into spiritual beings. Odin, the ever-present ether,
becomes the ever-present and ever-knowing spirit, the Father
of all. And as Zeus is the father of the Muses, so Odin is the
father of Saga, the goddess of poetry. The two ravens that
sat on the shoulders of Odin, and every morning brought him
news of what was passing in the world, were called Hunin
and Munin — Thought and Memory. Memory, or Mnemosyne,
was the mother of the Greek Muses. A trace of the worship
of Odin survives even to the present day. In one of the
Orkney islands is an Odin stone, in a hollow of which super-
stitious people thrust their hands, by way of testifying on their
most solemn oath. The island of Heligoland is said to have
derived its name from Odin, who was also named Helgi {^der
Heilige), or the Holy. ^'Charles's Wain," as we now call it,
was named Odin's Wain ; and the *' Milky Way' ' was also known
as Odin's Way. Unlike Zeus — the Greek All-father — Odin
was also a god of war. Hence it was that, as already ob-
served, he received into Walhalla one-half of the heroes slain
in battle.
The two goddesses Frigg and Freija, who were at different
times believed to be each the wife of Odin, appear to be the
one simply a development of the other. Of all the goddesses,
Frigg was the best and dearest to Odin. She sat enthroned
beside him, and surveyed the world. She knew all, and
exercised control over the whole face of nature. In Plate
XXXVI. she is represented seated with the golden spindle by
XXXVI
Frigg.
XXXVI 1.
i.'^
rr ^y^
r^
- >
:t
XXXVUI
Thor.
THOR. 315
her side, with which she used to spin. She is attended by
her handmaitlcn /'//// or Fulla. Freija was also a goddess
who {)rcsi(letl over smiling nature, sending sunshine, rain, and
harvest. She was further a goddess into whose charge the
dead passed. \s> has been said, half the number of heroes
who fell in battle belonged to her. She is represented in
Plate XXXVII. driving in a cart drawn by two cats.
In Plate XXXV. Odin is figured seated on his throne, and
attended by the ravens, Hunin and Munin, and the two
dogs.
THOR,
(plate XXXVIII.,)
Or Donar, simply meant the Thunderer — dcr Donncrer ; and
he dwelt in the vault of heaven. As he was likewise said to
be the son of Odin, or of Heaven, it is evident that, as in
the case of the All-father, he had a purely physical origin.
As the god of thunder and lightning Thor resembles Zeus;
and as the thunderbolts of Zeus were forged by the smith-god
Hephaestos, who dwelt below ground, so the hammer of Odin
was smithied by the Dwarves {zwcrge), or black elves, who
dwelt within the earth. Thor is represented driving through
the clouds in a car drawn by two goats. Among the pagan
Norsemen, Thor's hammer was held in as much reverence as
Christ's cross among Christians. It was carved on their
grave-stones ; and, wrought of wood, or of iron, it was sus-
pended in their temples. Thor, under the symbol of the
hammer, was invoked as the deity who made marriages fruit-
ful. He was also the god of the hearth and of fire.
As a' sky-god Thor is identical with Odin much in the
3l6 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
same way as Vishnu is with Indra. While the other Asa folk
ride to their trysting-place, Thor goes on foot : he is the
striding god, as Vishnu is, who traverses heaven in three
steps. Thor is perhaps identical with the Gallic god Taranis,
whose name resembles in sound the Scottish Celtic word for
thunder. Thor has also been identified with the Slavonic
god Perkunes, or Perune, whose name, according to a^well-
known law of phonetic change, is thought to be connected
with the Greek word for thunder — Keraunos.
In Plate XXXVIII. Thor is represented driving in his car
drawn by two goats, with his hammer raised to strike.
BALDR
Means the shining god. His son Brono means daylight, in
the Anglo-Saxon theogony. His home is called Breidablick
— the far or wide-shining ; and the name evidently conveys
an idea similar to that suggested by such Greek words as
Euryphassa, Eurynome, and Eurydike. The story of Baldr
— the most lovely and pathetic not only in Norse but in any
mythology — leaves no doubt whatever as to its physical origin
and significance. The joy of the world in the presence of
Baldr means only the gladness inspired by sunlight. The
solemn oath sworn by all living things not to hurt the bright
god, and their speechless dismay at his death, only mean the
gloom of the northern climes during the winter months,
when, in the purely concrete language of the primitive race,
Baldr, or the sun, was dead.
The myth says that only the mistletoe had not sworn not'
to hurt Baldr; that Loki discovered the fact, and then
directed Hodr — the blind god of the winter months — to
shoot him with a twig of it. This mistlctoc-bough is another
XXXIX.
^<^.
Freyr.
FREYR. 317
form of the thorn with which Odin puts to sleep the spring
maiden Brynhild ; of the thorn of the Persian Isfeudyar ; or
of the boar's tusk wliieh kills the bright, spring-like Adonis.
Loki, it was said, fled from the wrath of the gods, changed
himself into a salmon, was then caught by them in a net, and
bound fast until the twilight of the gods — or, in Christian
terminology, until the judgment-day. The unlucky Hodr
"WDs killed by Odin's son, Bali, whose home was among the
willows and in the dry grass.
FREYR,
(plate XXXIX.,)
Is likewise named Fro. The functions ascribed to him are
another instance of that interchange or overlapping to which
we have referred above, and which seems to be accounted for
by the hypothesis that whole groups of mythical beings are in
reality but personified epithets of one and the same thing.
Thus Freyr, as the cause of fruitfulness, is merely the sun-lit
and air-breathing heaven as represented by Odin. Like Odin
he is the patron of seafarers. Not only is Freyr repeated, so
to speak, in Odin, but also — or if not the god himself, then
his servant, Skirnir — in the Volsung and Niblung heroes,
Sigurd, Sigmund, and Gunnar. And as Sigurd can win the
maiden Brynhild only by riding through the flaming fire
which surrounded and guarded her dwelling, so by the same
exploit must Skirnir win Gerda for the master. In later times,
when the old religion had giten way before Christianity, and
its myths were being explained on the Euhemerist method, it
was alleged that Freyr had only been a Swedish king, whose
sorrowing subjects buried his body in a magnificent tomb, to
3l8 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
which, for three whole years, they continued to bring their
presents, as if Freyr were alive.
This Euhemerism is, however, inconsistent with the most
authoritative source of all — the Eddas. In Dasent's ''Prose
Edda" Freyr is described as the god of rain, sunshine, and
fruits — as Odin, in fact, in another shape. His wife was Gredr,
whose beauty — as he saw her leaving her father's house,-and
shedding a lustre over air and sea — captivated the god, and
allowed him no rest till he won her.
In Plate XXXIX. Freyr is represented riding on a wild boar
through the air, at a speed greater than that of the swiftest
horse. Sometimes he was drawn by it in a car. In crossing
the sea he also used a boat.
TYR
Is likewise named Ziu, and Saxnot. Our word Tuesday is a
memorial of his name. Once more, this god seems to be an
instance of personifying an epithet. Ziu is identical with the
root — meaning "shine" — of the Sanscrit Dynaus, the Greek
Zeus, and the Latin jDeus. Tyr, therefore, is another glisten-
ing god. He is pre-eminently the god of war and of athletic
sports. *' On him it is good for wrestlers to call." Tyr had
only one hand, the other having been bitten off by the wolf
Fenris, into whose mouth the god had placed it as a pledge
of security, when the wolf allowed himself to be bound in the
net that shall hold him fast till the judgment-day.,
BRAGI
Is the god of poetry and eloquence. *' He is famous for wisdom,
HEIMDALL- 319
and best in tongue-wit and cunning speech." A sort of coun-
terpart of this god was his wife Iduna, wlio dwelt in the under
world. She ii> spoken of in terms that recall the Hindoo de-
scription of Ushas — Eos — or the Daure goddess. For as
Ushas — the Dawn — makes the world young every new morn-
ing, so Iduna is said to preserve in a box the golden apples
which the gods ate, and so made themselves young again.
HEIMDALL
Was the watchman of the bridge Bifrost, leading to the un-
derworld. The sound of Heimdall's horn is heard over the
world, and shall be the signal for the great battle between the
gods on the day of their ending, or twilight. The name of
his horse, Gulltopr (Goldropf, or golden mare), connects hira
with the sun-gods and sun-horses of classical mythology.
Heimdall was so sharp a watchman that he could even hear the
grass grow on the earth, and the wool on the backs of sheep !
Vithar was next in strength to Thor. As the " twilight,"
or Gottcrdammc'rung, Vithar shall destroy the wolf Fenris,
the devourer of the gods, by placing one foot on the monster's
lower jaw, and pushing up the upper one — thus wrenching
them asunder. Ulle is the god of the chase ; a skilful bow-
man, and a fast runner on stilts. Like Bragi and Iduna,
Mimir is the deity of wisdom and knowledge. He dwelt
by the ash-tree, Yggdrasil, beneath whose roots bubbled forth
the well of wisdom, Mimir's well, from whose waters Mimir
drank his daily draught.
Loki dwelt in the land of the dead. He was the son of
the giant Farbanti, whose duty it was to ferry the dead over
the waters of the lower world. Loki had three children as
320 NORSE AND OLD GERJVIAN MYTHOLOGY.
cruel and hateful as he himself was full of mischief. One was
the huge wolf Fenris (Plate XL.), who, at the last day,
shall hurry gaping to the scene of battle, with his lower jaw
scraping the earth and his nose scraping the sky ! The second
was the serpent of Midgard — the serpent which Odin threw
into the sea, where the monster grew to such length that it
embraced the whole world in its folds. The third was the
goddess Hel, who was half black and half blue, and lived
daintily on the brains and marrow of men.
Hel is, in fact, that dreadful Hindoo goddess Kali, who,
in these modern days, has degenerated into a Doorga of quite
a pathetic and interesting character. Loki was at the bottom
of all the mischief that ever happened in the society of the
gods. The character of this god, and his close relationship
with a personage who figures conspicuously in modern the-
ology, are pretty well indicated in the following adage, with
its equivalents in German and English : Loki er or bondum
— der Teufel ist frei gelassen — the devil is loose.
Of the almost countless beings who figure in Norse my-
thology we must say but very little. Like the great gods,
they appear to be representative of the good and evil powers
of nature. Among them are the Elves (Alfen, Elfen,) who
live in Alfheimr (Elf-home). Their king is the Erlkonig
(Elfen Konig). In the night hours they come in troops to
dance in the grass, leaving, according to popular belief, their
traces in the form of fairy-rings. The dwarves (Zwerge),
whose father is named Ivaldr, dwell in the heart of the hills.
To them belong precious stones and metals, on which they
prove their skill in workmanship. As guardians of hidden
treasures they were propitiated by the seekers of the same
with a black goat or a black cock. An echo is called by the
X I
The Woil Fenris.
THE TALE OF THE VOLSUNGS AND NinLrNCS 32 1
Icelander.. Dwcrgm.uil-Zwcrgsprache — or (hvarl-voicc. 1 iic
evil beings who stole the light every evening, and the summtr
every year, were called giants. Such were the Reifriesen
(Hrinithiirsen) who brought the winter. The giant Hrungnir
had a head of stone, and a heart of stone; and a giantcro,
mother of Gmir, as many as nine hundred heads. Another
giant was Thiassi, who slew Thor and cast his eyes up to
heaven, where they shone thereafter as stars. In the extrem.c
north dwelt the giant Hrcsvelgr, the motion of whose wir.g.i
caused wind and tempest, in which respect he resembles the
gigantic bird of the Buddhist play, Nnganafufa, who raises
the waves on the sea by the flapping of his wings. On the
extreme south was Surtr, whose flaming sword guarded the
bounds of Muspelhcim. Besides these there were the Troll-
weiber (troll arvis), phantoms from the land of the dead, who
in the dark nights rode to the earth on a wolf bridled with
snakes. The three Nornen were the Norse Fates. The Valky-
rien were fair maidens who hovered over the field of battle,
woke up the dead heroes with a kiss, and led away their souls
to fight and drink ale as of old in the hapi)y Valhalla.
THE TALE OF THE VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS.
Tre Vt)lsunga Saga and Nibelungcnlied hardly difier in any-
thing but the name. The one is merely the Norse, the other
the German, form of one and the same nature myth, or epic.
According to the "Solar myth" theorists, this epic sers'es
the common purpose of all Aryan nations; in India being
known under the names of Ramayana and Mahabharata; in
Greece as the Iliad and the Odyssey; in our more northern
lands as the Tale of the Volsungs, and the Nibelungen Lay ;
32 2 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
and in England as the tale of King Arthur and his KLnights
of the Round Table. Whatever objections may be urged
against the "Solar myths" explanation of these stories, it is
quite indisputable that the main incidents in all of them com-
pletely coincide. Indeed it is not too much to aftirm that
fully to appreciate the spirit of any one of these great epics
of the world, the student must possess some acquaintanceAvith
its co-ordinate ones. But not only do the main incidents in
the Northern Epics coincide with those in the Iliad and
Odyssey, but they even contain episodes which correspond in
everything except the name with plots in Greek tragedy.
Gudrun, for example, is only a Norse Medea. We now pro-
ceed to give a slight sketch of the Volsunga Saga.
Volsung was the son of Rerir, the son of the Sigi, the son
of Odin. Volsung lay for seven years in his mother's womb;
and they said the youngling kissed his mother or ever she
died. Volsung had a daughter called Signy, who was married
to Siggeir, King of Gothland. During the marriage festivities
in Volsung' s house, and as the good folk sat round the evening
fire, there entered an old man wrapped in a cloak, who drove
a sword into a log of wood right up to the hilt, predicted
great things of the hero who should be able to draw it out
again, and immediately disappeared. Tlie old man was Odin ;
and the sword was the sword of Gram, wliich has its counter-
part in the sword of Chrysaor, in Roland's Durandal, and in
King Arthur's Excalibur. And as only Theseus could lift the
huge stone, and none but Ulysses could draw his own bow, so
among the assembled heroes only Sigmund the son of Volsung
could pull out Gram.
Volsung was afterwards murdered in the land of Siggeir;
wherefore Sigmund avenged the death of his father by killing
THE TALE OF THE VOLSUNCS AND NIBLUNGS. 323
the children of his brother-in-law, Siggeir. After that he
returned to his own Kind, and married Borghiid, by whom he
had two children, Helgi and Hamund. But Sigmund was no
more constant in his loves than other heroes of whom we read
in classical literature. He fell in love with Hjordis, who was
beloved by the son of King Hunding. Iktween the two
lierocs there ensued a figlit, during wliich the one-eyed man
in a blue cloak, and a bill in his hand, appeared: whereupon
Sigmund was slain. The dying Sigmund comforted his wife
Hjordis, and entrusted to her charge his sword Gram, wishing
her to j)reserve it for tlieir unborn boy. "And now," said
he, **I grow weary with my wounds, and I will go to see our
kin that have gone before me." So HjordLs sat over him till
he died at the day dawning.
Hjordis after that married Hialprck, King of Denmark, a
character who corresponds to the Grecian Laios and Akrisios.
At Hiali)rek's court was born Sigurd, the son of Hjordis and
Sigmund — the favourite hero of Norse mythology. Sigurd was
taught in all the arts and sciences by Regin, the cunning black-
smith, who was also the brother of the otter killed by Odin,
and the serpent — or worm — Fafnir, who guarded those golden
treasures whi< h, according to the Solar theory, mean the glad-
dening and revivifying sunlight, Fafnir himself being the evil
power, the cloud, or the darkness which steals the light.
Regin wished to secure the treasure for himself, and forged a
sword for Sigurd to slay the worm with. But it shivered into
pieces on its very first trial; and Sigurd, in contempt at
Regin's smithing, procures the fragments of his paternal sword
Gram, and Regin welds them together. Gram stood every
test. Sigurd drove it, right to the hilt, into Rcgin's anvil;
and after that, a lock of wool, borne on the surface of the
324 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
Stream, divided into two against the motionless edge. Sigurd
slew Fafnir, and procured the treasure ; and next he slew
Regin, who wished to possess the whole of the prize on the
plea that his forging of the weapon had really won the victory.
After that Sigurd went to free the Valkyrie Brynhild, accord-
ing to the Solar myth the Maiden of Spring, for whom the
cold earth is longing. Brynhild lay in the sleep into whK:h
she had been thrown by the thorn of Odin — that is, by the
thorn, or cold, or frost of winter.
Sigurd, like his mythical relatives in Norse and Greek stories,
was unfaithful in his loves. He fell in love with Gudrun, the
sister of Gunnar, and that, too, in spite of those love scenes
and speeches of his with Brynhild, for the beauty of which the
Volsung Saga is perhaps unequalled by any other epic story
whatever. Brynhild had sworn to marry only the man who
could ride through the fire which surrounded her dwelling.
This Gunnar could not do; but Sigurd did it in Gunnar's
shape, whereafter Brynhild agreed to marry Gunnar. But
Gudrun, in her triumph, revealed the secret ; and just as
(Enone procured the death of the unfaithful Paris, and Deia-
neira that of the fickle Herakles, so Brynhild compassed the
death of Sigurd. Brynhild also, like another Deianeira, dies,
in grief, on the funeral pile of her husband. Next, Gudrun,
also grieving for Sigurd, leaves her home ; but she marries
Atli, King of Hunland. It would seem that this Atli must be
another name for the powers of darkness, for he invited his
wife's brothers to his court, in order that he might seize the
golden treasure, "the sunlight," which they had received
from the dead Sigurd. These treasures the brothers buried in
the Rhine river, and went on their way to Hunland, though
they well knew they were destined never to return. The
THE TALE OF THE VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS. 325
scene in which the brothers are slain by the treacherous Atli
is unsurpassed for power and terror by any fighting story, ex-
cept, perhaps, by that one in the Mahabharata which describes
the final struggle on the battle-field of Hastinapur. Next
follows Gudrun's revenge for the death of her brothers; like,
as we have already said, a Norse Medea, she slew her own and
Atli's children.
But we cannot further pursue those final tragedies in which
all the various kinsfolk die by each other's hands, and in
obedience to that stern, inevitable fate which in these talcs
seems to be personified in Odin, and looms so terribly in the
background of the dramas of Sophocles and -^schylus.
We would in conclusion recommend the student to read the
translation of the Volsung Saga, recently published by Messrs.
Morris and Magnusson, as also Dr. Dasent's translation of the
prose Edda. Those who know German may also consult
Wilhelm Mannhardt's Die Goiter der deutschcn und tiordischen
Yolker, published in Berlin, i860. For an exhaustive expo-
sition of the "Solar myth " theory, alike of the subjects em-
braced in the foregoing sketch, and of Aryan myths in general,
we recommend the student to the work of the Rev. George
W. Cox on **The Mythology of the Aryan Nations."
THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF
THE HINDOOS.
T N the Veda, the earliest record of the Sanscrit language,
X many of the myths common to the Aryan nations are
presented in their simplest form. Hence the special value of
Hindoo myths in a study of Comparative Mythology. But it
would be an error to suppose that the myths of the Greeks,
Latins, Slavonians, Norsemen, old Germans, and Celts were
derived from those of the Hindoos. For the myths, like the
languages, of all these various races, the Hindoos included,
are derived from one common source. Greek, Latin, Sanscrit,
etc., are but modifications of a primitive Aryan language that
was spoken by the early *^ Aryans" before they branched
away from their original home, wherever that may have been,
to form new nationalities in India, Greece, Northern Europe,
Central Europe, etc. The Sanscrit language is thus not the
mother, but the elder sister of Greek and the kindred tongues :
and the Vedic mythology is, in like manner, only the elder
sister of the other Aryan mythologies. It is by reason of the
discovery of the common origin of these languages that
scholars have been enabled to treat mythology scientifically.
For example, many names unintelligible in Greek are at once
explained by the meaning of their Sanscrit equivalents.
Thus, the name of the chief Greek god, Zeus, conveys no
meaning in itself. But the Greek sky-god Zeus evidently
326
MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS. 327
corresponds to the Hindoo sky-god Dyaus, and this word is
derived from a root div or dyu, meaning '*lo shine." Zeus,
then, meant originally *^ the glistening ether ;" and the Sans( rit
devas, Greek theos, and Latin deus, meaning **god," are
from the same root, and signify "shining" or "heavenly."
Similarly other Grceek names are explained by their counter-
parts, or cognate works in Sanscrit. Thus the name of Zeus's
wife, Hera, belongs to a Sanscrit root svar, and originally
meant the bright sky, the goddess herself being primarily the
bright air; and Erins is explained by the Sanscrit Saranyu.
In India there have been two dynasties, as it were, of gods —
the Vedic and Brahmanic. The Vedic gods belong to the very
earliest times, appear obviously as elemental powers, and are
such as would have been worshipped by a simple, un instructed,
agricultural people. The Brahmanic religion was, in great
part at least, a refined development of the former; and was
gradually displacing the simpler worship of Vedism many
centuries before the birth of Christ. Five or six centuries
before the last event, Dissent, under the name and form of
Buddhism, became the chief religion of India; but in about
ten centuries Brahmanism recovered its old position. Budd-
hism now retains but comparatively few followers in India.
Its chief holds are in Burmah, Siam, Japan, Thibet, Nepaul,
China, and Mongolia: and its nominal followers at the pre-
sent day, perhaps outnumber those of all other religions put
together.
328 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
THE VEDIC GODS.
DYAUS
Was, as we have already indicated, the god of the bright sky,
his name being connected with that of Zeus through thejppt
div or dyic. That the god-name and the sky-name were inter-
changeable is evident from such classical expressions as that
^' Zeus rains " (/. c, the sky rains). In such expressions there
is hardly any mythological suggestion : and the meaning of
the name Dyaus, — like those of the names Ouranos and Kronos
in Greek, — always remained too transparent for it to become
the nucleus of a myth. Dyaus, however, was occasionally
spoken of as an overruling sj^irit. The epithet, Dyaus pitar,
is simply Zeus pater — Zeus the father; or, as it is spelled in
Latin, Jupiter. Another of his names, Janitar, is the San-
scrit for gcnetor, a title of Zeus as the father or producer.
Dyaus pitai', " father aky," and p'i//tus ma far, ''mother earth,"
are generally spoken of together.
VARUNA
Is also a sky-god: but in later times he becomes god of the
waters. The name is derived from the root va;', to cover, or
envelop: and so far Varuna (accent Varuna) means the vault
of heaven. Here, then, we seem to find a clue to the meaning
of the Greek Ouranos, whom we already know to liave been a
sky-god ; Ouranos means the coveror; but, as observed above,
the name would have remained unintelligible apart from its
reference to the Sanscrit name. The myth of Varuna is a
wonderful instance of the readiness and completeness with
THE VEDIC GODS. 329
whic:h tlic Hindoo genius spiritualized its sense-impressions.
From the conception of the thousand-eyed (or starred) Varuna,
who overlooked all men and things, the Indian Aryans passed
to the loftier conception of Varuna as an all-seeing god or
providence, whose spies, or angels, saw all that took place.
Some of the finest passages in the Vedic hymns are those in
which the all-seeing Varuna is addressed : as in the following
verses, translated by Muller from the Rigvcda : —
" Let me not yet, O Varuna, enter into the house of tlay ; liave mercy,
Almighty, have mercy!
'If I go along trembling like a cloud driven by the wind; have mercy,
Almighty, have mercy 1
"Through want of strength, though strong and bright god, have I gone to
the wrong shore; have mercy, Almighty, have mercy !
" Thirst came upon the worshipper, tho' he stood in the midst of the waters ;
have mercy, Almighty, have mercy!
" Whenever we men, O Varuna, committed ofTcnce before the heavenly host,
whenever we break tliy law through thoughtfulncss ; have mercy, Almighty,
have mercy !"
INDRA.
(plate XL I.)
The connection, or identity, between Zeus and Dyaus seems
to be chiefly limited to the names. There is greater resem-
blance between Indra and Zeus than between Zeus and Dyaus.
Indra, as the hurler of the thunderbolts, and as a *' cloud
compeller," coincides with Zeus and Thor.
The myth of Indra — the favourite Vedic god — is a further
instance of that transition from the physical to spiritual mean-
ing to which we have referred; though Indra is by no means
so spiritual a being as Varuna. It is also a good instance of
the fact that, as the comparative mythologists express it, the
330 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
further back the myths are traced the more ^' atmospheric " do
the gods become. First, of the merely physical Indra. Indra
shatters the cloud with his bolt, and releases the imprisoned
waters. His purely physical origin is further indicated by the
mythical expression that the clouds moved in Indra as the
winds in Dyaus— an expression implying that Indra was a
name for the sky. Also, the stories told of him correspond
closely with some in classical mythology. Like Hermes and
Herakles, he is endowed with precocious strength ; like Her-
mes he goes in search of the cattle, the clouds which the evil
powers have driven away; and like Hermes he is assisted by
the breezes — though in the Hindoo myth by the storm-winds,
rather— the Maruts. His beard of lightning is the red beard
of Thor. In a land with the climatic conditions of India, -and
among an agricultural people, it was but natural that the god
whose fertilizing showers brought the corn and wine to matu-
rity should be regarded as the greatest of all.
" He who as soon as bom is the first of the deities, who has done honour to
the gods by his exploits; heat whose might heaven and earth are alarmed,
and who is known by the greatness of his strength ; he, men, is Indra.
" He who fixed firm the moving earth ; who tranquillized the incensed
mountains ; who spread the spacious firmament ; who consolidated the
heavens; he, men, is Indra.
" He who, having destroyed Ahi, set free the seven rivers: who recovered
the cows detained by Bal ; who generated fire in the clouds ; who is invinci-
ble in battle : he, men, is Indra.
" He under whose control are horses and cattle, and villages, and all
chariots ; who gave birth to the sun and to the dawn ; and who is the leader
of the waters : he, men, is Indra.
" He to whom heaven and earth bow down ; he at whose might the moun-
tains are appalled ; he who is the drinker of the Soma juice, the firm of frame,
the adamant-armed, the wieldcr of the thunderbolt: he men, is Indra.
" May we envelop thee with acceptable praises as husbands are embraced
by their wives!"
THE VEDIC GODS. 33 1
The first verso in the proc eding hymn from the Rigveda
])crha])s refers to Indra as a sun-god, and to the rapidity with
which, in tropical climates, the newly-born sun grows in
heat-giving i)owers. The Ahi, or throttling snake, of the
third verse, is the same as the Greek Echidna, or the Hindo:)
Vritra; and is multiplied in the Rakshasas — or powers of
darkness — against which the sky-god Indra wages deadly war.
He is likewise spoken of in the same hymn in much the same
kind of language that would naturally be applied to the
creator and sustainer of the world. But so is almost every
Hindoo deity. Absolute supremacy was attributed to each
and every god, whenever it came to his turn to be praised or
propitiated.
SURYA
Corresponds to the Greek Helios. That is, he was not so
much the god of light as the special god who dwelt in the
body of the sun. The same distinction exists between Posei-
don and Nereus ; the one being the god of all waters, and
even a visitor at Olympos, the other a dweller in the sea.
Surya is described as the husband of the dawn, and also as her
son.
SAVITAR
Is another personification of the sun. His name means the
" Inciter or enlivener," and is derived from the root su, to
drive or stimulate. As the sun-god he is spoken of as the
golden -eyed, golden-tongued, and golden-handed ; and the
Hindoo commentators, in their absurd attempts to give a
literal prosaic explanation of a highly appropriate poetic
epithet, ?ay that Savitar cut off his hand at a sacrifice, and
that the priests gave him a golden one instead. Savitar thus
332 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
corresponds to the Teutonic god Tyr, whose hand was cut
off by the wolf Fenris, Like other gods in the Hindoo and
Norse mythologies, Savitar is regarded as all-powerful. That
Savitar is a sun-god appears from the following passages,
among many others, from the Rigveda: —
" Shining forth he rises from the lap of the dawn, praised by singers ; he,
he, my god Savitar, stepped forth, who never misses the same place.
" He steps forth, the splendour of the sky, the wide-seeing, the far-shining,
the shining wanderer ; surely enlivened by the sun do men go to tlicir tasks,
and do their work.
" May the golden-eyed Savitar arise hither !
*' May the golden-handed, life-bestowing, well guarding, exhilarating, and
affluent Savitar be present at the sacrifice !"
The second passage seems to identify Savitar with Odin,
who was also '' the wanderer" — Wc^tom, and who was one-
eyed, as Savitar was one-handed.
SOMA.
In some respects the myth of Soma is the most curious of
all. Soma, as the intoxicating juice of the Soma plant, cor-
responds to that mixture of honey and blood of the Quoasir,
which, in the Norse mythology, imjjarts jjrolongcd life to the
gods. In the Rigveda the Soma is similarly described; as
also the process by which it is converted into intoxicating
liquid. I3iit in the same hymns Soma is also described as an
all-powerful god. It is he who gives strength to Indra, and
enables him to conquer his enemy Vritra, the snake of dark-
ness. He is further, like Vishnu, Indra, and Varuna, the
supporter of heaven and earth, and of gods and men ; thus it
would seem as if the myth of the god Soma is but an instance
of that fetishistic stage in the history of the human kind
during which men attributed conscious life and energy to
THE VEDIC GODS. 333
whatever hurt or benefited them. The following passages from
the Rigvcda are adduced to show in what terms Soma was
spoken of as a god, and as a mere plant : —
"Where there is eternal hght, in the world where the sun is placed, in that
immortal, imperishable world, place me, O Soma . . .
""WHiere life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, where the worlds are
radiant, there make me immortal."
And again, —
" In the filter, which is the support of the world, thou, pure Soma, art puri-
fied for the gods. The Usijas first gathered thee. In thee all these worlds are
contained.
"The Soma flowed into the vessel for Indra, for Vishnu; may it be
honeyed for VSyu!"
AGNI
Is the god of fire, his name evidently being connected with
the Latin ignis. He corresponds to the Greek Hcphcestos.
Of this god Mr. Wheeler, in his introduction to his History
of India, thus writes: "To man in a primitive state of ex-
istence the presence of fire excites feelings of reverence. Its
powers raise it to the rank of a deity whose operations are felt
and seen. It burns and it consumes. It dispels the darkness,
and with it drives away, not only the imaginary horrors which
the mind associates with darkness, but also the real horrors —
such as beasts of prey. ... It becomes identified with the
light of the sun and moon ; with the lightning which shoots
from the sky and shatters the loftiest trees and strikes down
the strong man ; with the deity who covers the field with
grain and ripens the harvest ; with the divine messenger who
licks up the sacrifice and carries it to the gods."
As another curious instance of the sort of fetishism to which
we have referred, the Veda describes Agni as being gene-
334 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
rated from the rnl)l)inp^ of stirks, after which he l)ursts forth
from the wood like a licet (oiirser. A^;ain, wiieii ex( ited hy the
wind lu: rushes aiiH)iij',st tlie trees like a. hull, and < oiisiiines
the forest as a raja destroys his eiieniies. Sik Ii exi>ressi(jns
of course pr(jve the |)urely ])hysi(al origin of ihe y^od Af^ni ;
and it is hardly iier cssary to observe llial, like India, Varinia,
Soma, Vishnu, etc., he is an all-povverriil god, and suj)porter
of the universe.
VAYLT
Ts the god of the winds, or of tlic air. Allied to him arc the
•Maruts, — the storm gods, or "(rushers," whose name lias
])een derived from ;i root meaning to grind, and regarded as
connected with su( h names as Mars and Ares, ''rhe same
root appears in Miolnir, an e|)illiet of Thor, (onceived as the
crashing or (rushing g(jd. The Mariits are the I! indoo coun-
terparts of the Norse Ogres— llie fier( e ^.torm beings who tcjss
the sea into foam, and who, in the Norse 'Jales, are repre-
sented as heing armed with iron ( Itihs, at every str(;ke of
vvhi( h they send tlu- eaith Hying so many yards into the air.
The primary meaning of the name is clear from the Vedic
passages whi( h describe tin.- Maruts as roaring among the
forest trees, and tearing up the ( loiids for rain.
Among all the i)ersonifications of Hindoo mythology, one
of the purest and most touching and beautiful is
USHAS,
Whose name is the same as the Greek Eos — or the Dawn. The
name Ushas is derived from a root wj, to burn. The language
in which the ])hysical Ushas was S])okcn of was espe( ially
THE VEDIC GODS. 335
capable of easy transformation into a purely spiritual meaning.
The dawn-iight is beautiful to all men, barbarous or civilized;
and it did not require any great stretch of poetic fancy to
represent Ushas as a young wife awakening her children, and
giving them new strength for the toils of the new day. It
happens that the word which in Sanscrit means " to
awake," also means **to know;" and thus, like the Greek
Athene, Ushas became a goddess of wisdom. The following
passages show how Ushas was regarded by the Vedic wor-
shippers : —
"Ushas, daughter of heaven, dawn upon us with riches; diffuser of h'ght,
dawn upon us with abundant food ; beautiful goddess, dawn upon us with
wealth of cattle.
"This auspicious Ushas has harnessed her vehicles from afar, above the
rising of the sun, and she comes gloriously upon men with a hundred chariots.
" First of all the world is she awake, trampling over transitory darkness ; the
mighty, the giver of light, from on high she beholds all things; ever youthful,
ever reviving, she comes first to the invocation."
Had we space for discussion of so interesting a subject, it
would be easy to show how naturally monotheistic conception
would grow out of the polytheism of the Vedic religion.
Meantime we content ourselves with the following monotheis-
tic hymn, translated by Dr. Max Muller : —
" In the beginning there rose the source of golden light. He was the only
lord of all that is ; he established this earth and this sky : who is the god to
whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He who gives life, he who gives strength; whose blessings all the bright
gods desire; whose shadow is immortality; whose shadow is death: who is
the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He who through his power is the only king of all the breathing and awak-
ening world. He who governs all, men and beasts: who is the god to whom
we shall offer our sacrifice?
" He whose power these snowy mountains, whose power the sea proclaims,
^^6 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
with the distant river. He whose these regions are as it were his two arms:
who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm. He through whom
the heaven was established — nay, the highest heaven ; he who measured out
the light in the air : who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by his will, look up, trembling
inwardly; he over whom the rising sun shines forth; who is the god to whom
we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" May he not destroy us, he the creator of the earth ; or he the righteous,
who created heaven ; he who also created the bright and mighty waters : who
is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? "
THE BRAHMANIC GODS.
Of the later Hindoo religion the chief deities are Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva — forming the Hindoo Trinity, or Trimurti.
These are not regarded as separate, independent gods, but
merely as three manifestations or revelations or phases of the
Spirit or energy of the supreme incomprehensible being
Brahm. This trinity is a comparatively late formation.
The trinity of the later Vedic writings is composed rather,
of the representative gods of earth, air, and sky. Agni,
Vayu, and Surya. Again, no such trinity as the Brahmanic,
appears to be known in the Mahabharata, which represents
Brahma, Vishnu, and Indra as being the sons of Mahadeva,
or Siva. Perhaps, however, the reason of this is to be found
in the mutual jealousy of the two great sects, Vaishnavas and
Saivas, into which the Hindoo religion came to be divided.
To Brahm as the self-existent — of whom there is no image —
there existed neither temples nor altars. As signifying,
among other things, the principle of divinity, the name
Brahm is of the neuter gender, and the divine essence is de-
scribed as that which illumines all, delights all, whence all
XL!
Trimurti, or Hmduo I'nnity,
L
Indra.
THE BRAHMANIC CODS. 337
proceeds, tliat of which all live when born, and that to which
all must return.
BRAHMA
(PLATE XLII.)
Is that member of the triad whose name is best known to
ICnglishmen, and most familiar to the Hindoos themselves.
Images of him are found in the temples of other gods, but he
lias neither temples nor altars of his own. The reason of
this is that Brahma, as the creative energy, is quiescent, and
w ill remain so until the end of the present age of the world
— of the Kali Yuga^ that is — only a small portion of whose
432,000 years has already passed.
It appears, however, that an attempt was made to represent
even the divine spii it of Brahm : for the god Narayana means
the spirit moving on the waters. Narayana is figured as a
graceful youth lying on a snake couch which floats on the
water, and holding his toe in his mouth.
Brahma is figured as a four-headed god, bearing in one
hand a coi)y of the Vedas, in another a spoon for pouring out
the lustral water contained in a vessel which he holds in a
third hand, while the fourth hand holds a rosary. The rosary
was used by the Hindoos to aid them in contemplation, a
bead being dropped on the silent pronunciation of each name
of the god, while the devotee mused on the attribute signified
by the name.
Brahma, like each god, had his sacti, or wife, or female
( ounterpart, and his vahana or vehicle, whereon he rode.
Brahma's sactiy is Saraswati, the goddess of poetry, wis-
dom, eloquence, and fine art. His vahana was the goose —
/uifisa, ill Latin, anser, in German, ^ans.
2^8 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
VISHNU
(plate xlii.)
Is the personification of the preserving power of the divine
spirit. The Vaishnavas allege that Vishnu is the paramount
god, because there is nothing distinctive in the act oiLan-
nihilation, but only a cessation of preservation. But of
course the argument would cut all three ways, for it might as
well be said that creation, preservation, and destruction are
at bottom only one and the same thing — a fact thus pointing
to the unity of God. Of the two Hindoo sects the Vaish-
naivas are perhaps the more numerous. Vishnu is repre-
sented as being of a blue colour ; his vahana is Garuda, the
winged half-man, half-bird, king of birds, and his sacti, or
wife, is the goddess Lakshmi. He is said to have four hands
— one holding a shankha, or shell, the second a chakra or
quoit, the third a club, and the fourth a lotus Plate XLII.
represents Vishnu lying asleep on Ananta, the serpent of
eternity. At the end of the Kali Yuga, Vishnu will rest in
that position ; from his navel will spring a lotus stalk, on the
top of which — above the surface of the waters, which at that
time will cover the world — Brahma will appear to create the
earth anew.
SIVA
(plate xliii.)
Is the destroyer — the third phase of Brahm's energy. He is
represented as of a white colour. His sacti is Bhavani or
Pracriti, the terrible Doorga or Kali, and his vahana a white
i
v_
XLll.
:,(-N^'
Visliiiu.
^'^..^"^^
^
c
^MW
■</■
KVr
OCOCJO^OOO <" ^ --^ ■ ^/ c. o o ■:> ol
Brahma with Saraswati.
. JiV t
XLIII,
Kamadeva.
Siva.
THE BRAHMANIC GODS. 339
bull. Sometimes Siva is figured with a trident in one hand,
and in another a rope ox pasha ^ with which he, or his wife
Kali, strangles evil-doers. His necklace is made of human
skulls; serpents are his ear-rings; his loins are wra])]jcd in
tiger's skin; and from his head the sacred river Ganga is re-
presented as springing.
Among the minor deities may be mentioned Kuvera, the
god of riches; Lakshmi, being the goddess of wealth; Kama-
deva, the god of love, who is represented (see Plate XLIII.)
as riding on a dove, and armed with an arrow of flowers, and
a bow whose string is formed of bees; and thirdly, Ganesha,
the son of Siva and Prithivi, who is regarded as the wisest of
all the gods, is especially the god of prudence and policy, and
is invoked at the opening of Hindoo literary works.
AVATARS OF VISHNU.
The word avatar means, in its plain sense, Descent — that is,
from the world of the gods to the world of men. In these
descents, or incarnations, the purpose of Vishnu has always
been a beneficent one. His first avatar is named Matsya,
wherein, during the reign of King Satyavrata, Vishnu appeared
in the form of a fish. For the world had been deluged by
water for its wickedness, and its inhabitants had perished, ex-
cept the king and seven sages, with their families, who to-
gether with pairs of all species of animals, entered into an ark
prepared for them, and of which the fish took care, by having
its cable tied to its horn. In the second, or Kurma avatar,
Vishnu appeared in the form of a tortoise, supporting Mount
Mandara on his back, while the t^ods churned the sea for the
divine amljrosia. In the Varaha, or third avatar, Vishnu
340 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS,
appeared as a boar to save the earth when it had been drowned
a second time. The boar went into the sea and fished the
earth out on his tusks. In the fourth he appeared as Nara-
singha, the man-lion, to free the world from a monarch who,
for his austerities, had been endowed by the gods with univer-
sal dominion. In this shape Vishnu tore the king to pieces.
Subsequently he appeared as a dwarf; then as Rama, the hero
of the Ramayana, who likewise was a beneficent being. His
chief incarnation appears in Krishna, the god who is most
loved by the Hindoos. Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist
religion, was also said to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Nine
of these avatars have already passed. In the tenth, or Kalki
Avatara, he will appear armed with a scimitar, and riding
on a white horse, when he will end the present age ; after
which he will sleep on the waters, produce Brama, and so in-
augurate a new world.
THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF
EGYPT.
EGYPTIAN myths undoubtedly originated and were de-
veloped similarly to the myths of all other nations with
which we are acquainted. Yet an indication of the various
stages of that development, and an understanding of the
system as a whole, and as it is now known to us, are far more
difficult in the case of Egyptian than of Greek, Norse, Ger-
manic, or Hindoo mythology. The reason of this is very
evident. The Egyptian religion seems to have reached its ab-
stract or metaphysical stage long before any of the religions
to which we have referred ; and as its records belong wholly
to that stage, there are no means of enabling the student to
bridge over the gap between its earliest and its latest forma-
tions.
Indeed, it would appear as if precisely the same kind of
diflercnce existed between the Egyptian and the Greek genius
as between the Greek genius and that of the Hindoos. The
temperament of the Greek was open, joyous, sensuous ; that
of the other two races was self-repressive, brooding, and mys-
tical. The bias or mental bent of these was not so much
towards what was artistically or logically preventible, as
towards the elusive, mysterious spirit of which they imagined
all things visible and tangible to be merely the veil. The
341
342 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
Greek was artistically sensuous j the Hindoo was mystically
religious. Or, the difference between them may be said to
resemble that between form and colour. The contrast in in-
tellectual bias between the Egyptians and their adversaries,
the Greeks, is sufficiently indicated in what Herodotus says
of the Egyptian contempt for the claims made by the Greeks
of descent from the gods. The priests of Egypt could tJnly
laugh at the absurdity of the belief according to which a god
was said to be the sixteenth ancestor of Hecataeos. Our
gods, said they, never lived on earth.
However, it appears as if a comparison of it with other
systems shows that the mythology of Egypt is, in great mea-
sure at least, explicable by the general doctrines implied in
the title "Solar Myth." Even that very readiness with which
the Greeks identified the Egyptian gods with their own af-
fords, if not proof, at all events some countenance, to the
supposition that both Pantheons were, so to speak, peopled
after the same manner. Again, the functions and characters
of the Egyptian gods interchange like those of the Greek and
Norse gods. Their names have in both cases similar physical
meanings. In both cases also the birth and genealogy of the
gods appear to be but an expression of physical, visible se-
quences. We find in both cases the same confusion, or
identity, between a god's mother and his sister ; and what
appears to be the same conflict between the light-giving and
the light-stealing powers of nature. The old German religion
is, perhaps, of a more spiritual character than that of Egypt.
Yet there is no doubt that the idea of the contest between the
purely spiritual powers Ormuzd and Ahriman was origmally
only the idea of the contest between the sunlight, Indra, and
the clouds or darkness, Vritra. This seems a strong indirect
NEPH. — PTHAH. 343
proof that Osiris and Typho are the same as Indra and Vritra.
The idea of dynastic overthrow and succession common to
the Aryan reh'^nons, and presented with such weird and pa-
thetic grandeur in Norse mythology, is, if at all, but faintly
defined in the religion of Egypt. Yet it seems to be implied
in such phrases as ''Osirian divinities," and ''three orders
of the gods." Lastly, it appears that many of the Egyptian
deities are only personified attributes of one and the same
thing or person.
The eight great gods of Egypt were, Neph, Amun,
Pthah, Khem, Sati, Maut, and Bubastis.
NEPH
Is also named Num, Nu, Nef, Cnouphis, and Cenubis. Now
Nef means spirit or breath, in which sense it is still retained
in Arabic. He is -'the spirit of God moving on the face of
the waters." Therefore in this special, physical sense Neph
corresponds to the Teutonic Woden, or Wuotan (see p. 313);
as also Brahma and Zeus. Neph was worshipi^ed in Ethiopia
and the Thebais. He is represented as having a ram's head
with curved horns. His wife, or in Hindoo phraseology
sactij was named Auka.
PTHAH
Is only Neph under a new name; or, to express it otherwise,
he represents a special energy of that god. He is the creator,
or the universal life in action. Jamblichus calls him the
dcmiourgos, or artisan of the world ; and the Greeks regarded
him as the counterpart of their own artisan god, Hephaestos
or Vulcan. As the creator he was thought of as the father
and sovereign of the gods. He was worshipi)ed chiefly in
344 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
Memphis. He appears as a mummy-shaped male figure ; also
as the pigmy-god.
KHEM,
Like the fonner god, is only a special en erg)' or activity of
the universal life. He is a personified attribute, or epithet.
He is the god of generation and reproduction, and was iden-
tified as Pan by the Greeks, who called his chief city — Chem-
mis, in the Thebais — by the name of Panopolis. But Khem
not only merges into the god Num or Neph, he also usurps
the functions of, or is the same as, the garden-god Ranno.
It was but natural that the god of reproduction should
also be a garden -god. This garden-god, Ranno, was repre-
sented under the form of an asp, whose figure is found
on wine-presses and garden and agricultural implements.
It should here be observed that Priapus, the classical counter-
part of the procreative Khem, was the tutelary deity of
gardens.
AMUN
Was the chief god of Upper Egypt. From the signification
of the name — "hidden" — it would appear that Amun was a
deity of a highly spiritual character. As in the preceding
instances, he is identified or connected with various other
gods, e.g., he is named as Amun-ra (Ra being the sun-god),
and Amun-num (Num, the living breath or spirit). His
companion goddess was Mut or Maut ; and the two deities,
with their son Khuns, formed the Trinity of Upper Egypt.
SATI
The Greeks imagined to Ix^ the same as Hera. As such she
NEPH. — PTHAH. 34$
wouKl bo the riuccn of heaven ; but a distinction was made
between her and
NEITH,
"WTio was said to be the gotldess of the upper heaven (or
ether), whereas Sati was the goddess of the lower heaven (or
air). If Neith be a sky-deity, and if she be also the mother
of the sun-god, the facts are another instance from Egyptian
mythology of that same process through which the Greeks
jK'oplcd their Olympos and the Norsemen their Asgard. But
further, the functions attributed to Neith seem to show that
the idea of this goddess was developed much in the same way
as that of the Greek Athene. As Athene in Greek, and
Ahana in Sanscrit, meant originally the light of the dawn,
and finally, moral and intellectual light, so we find that Neith
also came to be a deity of wisdom. This goddess was wor-
shipped especially at Sais in the Nile delta.
MALT,
To whom we have already referred as the second person of
the Theban Trinity, meant the Mother, — Mother Nature, —
and thus corresponded to the Greek Demetcr.
BUBASTIS
Was chiefly worshipj)ed in the town of Bubastus in Lower
Egypt. She was said to be the daughter of the great goddc^ss
Isis. She was represented with the head of a cat, the animal
specially sacred to her.
RA
Comes first in the second class of deities. The Greeks
346 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
identified him with their own sun-god, Helios, and called the
city in which he was principally worshipped Heliopolis. He
is represented with a hawk's head, over which is a solar disc.
His purely physical origin seems to be ];roved by the myths
that Neith, or the upper air, was his mother; and that he
married Mut (Demeter) : this merely signifying the interac-
tion of earth and sunlight in producing vegetation. But again,
Ra was said to have for children Athor, Mu, and Mat. Athor
was identified with Ay^hrodite, who was originally the goddess
of light; while Mu means physical light, and Mat moral light.
Precisely the same transition in m'eaning happens in the story
of Neith, and in that of Athene, Ahana, Ushas, and Eos. The
wide prevalence of this god's worship shows in what impor-
tance he was held, an im]>ortance naturally attaching to the
sun-god among all nations given to elemental worship. From
Ra, with the prefixed syllable Pi, was derived the name Phrah,
or, in Old Testament spelling, Pharaoh. Every Pharaoh was
thus entitled son of the sun. All this suggests that Sabaiism,
or fire-worship, was originally practised in Egypt. Ra is also
identical with liaal, a name implying *Mord," and applied to
the sun. Baalbek means ''city of the sun," and was so named
by the Greeks — Heliopolis.
SEB
Is said to be the son of Ra. Tie is a sort of Egyptian
Kronos, being represented in tlic hieroglyi^liics to be the
father of the gods. Here again we have an interchange of
functions; for it has been seen that Nei)h, Pthah, etc., have
been similarly described. Also, like other gods in and out of
Greek mythology, Seb marries his own sister, Nutpe. These
iy
XLIV.
Osiris.
m
I
%v>f^^.
:^m^i^^m
Nile God.
OSIRIS. 34y
two were at the head of the ** Osirian divinities" — Osiris, Isis,
Scth, Ncphthys. Nutpc or Ncpte has been identified with
Rhea. She is su[)posed to coincide with Lucina, and to pre-
side over births and nursing. As being the mother of Isis
and Osiris, she was called the mother of the gods.
OSIRIS,
(plate xliv.,)
The great deity of the Egyptians, has lx?en by some identi-
fied with the sun, or sunlight, or the vivifying powers
in nature. According to this view the sleep or death of
Osiris means the sleep of the spring-maiden Brynhild (see p.
324), or the imprisonment of Persephone in the dark realm
of Hades. His contest with Seb (by the Greeks called Ty-
pho) would certainly seem to be another instance of the plau-
sibility, at least, of this view. At any rate, Osiris, being re-
stored to life, became the judge of the under-world. There
he listens to Thoth's tale of the character of the disembodied
souls, who are introduced to the judge by Horus (the son of
Osiris), after their good and bad deeds have been weighed by
Anubis in the scale of tnith.
These trials in the under-world were attended by forty
officers, called Assessors of the Dead, who are thus described
by Sir Gardner Wilkinson : ** These assessors were similar to
the bench of judges who attended at the ordinary tribunals
of the Egyptians, and whose president, or arch-judge, cor-
responded to Osiris. The assessors were represented in a
human form with different heads. The first had the head of
a hawk> the second of a man, the third of a hare, the fourth
of a hippopotamus, the fifth of a man, the sixth of a hawk,
348 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
the seventh of a fox, the eighth of a nian, the ninth of a
ram, the tenth of a snake, and the others according to their
peculiar character . . . They are supposed to represent the
forty-two crimes from which a virtuous man was expected to
be free when judged in a future state j or rather the accusing
spirits, each of whom examined if the deceased was guilty^-of
the peculiar evil which it was his province to avenge."
The worship of Osiris was universal throughout Egypt,
where he was gratefully regarded as the great example of self-
sacrifice, as the manifester of good, as the opener of truth,
and as being full of goodness and truth. As Osiris was the
personification of physical and moral good, so his brother Seb
(Typho) was the personification of all evil. Of the analogy
between these two on the one hand, and the old Persian
deities of good and evil, we have already spoken.
Another explanation of the Osirian myth has thus been
given : Osiris was the Nile god. (Plate XLIV.) The river,
in its periodical inundations, was said to have married the
earth (Isis, Rhea), and in its retreat to have been killed by
the giant of Sterility (Seb, or Typhon), who was jealous,
perhaps, of the wondrous fruitfulness of the marriage between
the soil and the great river.
APIS
Was the great beast-god of Egypt. This sacred bull was
known as Apis at Memphis, and as Mnevis, or Onuphis, at
Heliopolis. His worship was so prevalent and popular,
because he was regarded as an avatar, or incarnation, of the
favourite deity Osiris, whose soul had transmigrated into the
body of a bull. The sacred bull was allowed to live for no
more than twenty-five years, at the end of which it was taken
APIS. 349
to the Nile, and drowned in one of the sacred wells. His
death was followed by national mournings, which, however,
gave place to national thanksgivings, as soon as a new Avatar,
or sacred bull discovered himself by the following marks : a
black coat, a white triangular spot on the forehead, a spot
like a half-moon on its right side, and under its tongue a
knot like a beetle. The following quotations from ^lian, as
given in Wilkinson, narrate the ceremonies consequent on
the re-discovery of Osiris: —
"As soon as a report is circulated that the Egyptian god has
manifested himself, certain of the sacred scribes, well versed
in the mythical marks, known to them by tradition, approach
the spot where the divine cow has deposited her calf, and
there, following the ancient ordinance of Hermes, feed it with
milk during four months, in a house facing the rising sun.
When this period has passed the sacred scribes and prophets
resort to the dwelling of Apis, at the time of the new moon,
and placing him in a boat prepared for the purpose, convey
him to Memphis, where he has a convenient and agreeable
abode, with pleasure grounds and ample space for wholesome
exercise. Female companions of his own species are provided
for him, the most beautiful that can be found, kept in apart-
ments to which he has access when he wishes. He drinks out
of a well, or fountain of clear water : for it is not thought
right to give him the water of the Nile, which is considered
too fottening . . The man from whose herd the divine
beast has sprung is the happiest of mortals, and is looked upon
with admiration by all people." Cambyses, it is said, found
a set of villagers rejoicing over a new sacred bull, and fancy-
ing they were making merry over his recent defeat in Ethio-
pia, the king of ki" - ; at once ran the bull through the body,
350 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
and had the priests flogged. It was considered a good omen
if the bull ate food offered to it. Men also listened at the
ears of Apis, then put their hands to their own ears to prevent
the escape of the secret, which they interpreted according to
the nature of the first words they chanced to hear uttered.
SERAPIS
(plate xlv.)
Was another name of Osiris, although the Greeks said that
his worship was not known in Egypt until the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, when it was introduced from Sinope, under
the name of Serapis. Serapis was known as the judge of the
under-world.
ISIS
(plate xlv.)
Was the wife of Osiris, also a counterpart of him; for, as he
was judge of the dead, so she is described as the giver of death.
She is identified with Ceres and Persephone, and, in this view,
the grief of Isis for her husband may be regarded as an Egyp-
tian version of the myth representing Demeter as mourning
for the loss of her daughter. Apulcius makes her declare :
^'1 am nature, the parent of all the gods, mistress of all the
elements, the beginning of all "the ages, sovereign of the gods,
queen of the manes, and the first of the heavenly beings."
But as the mother of all she is convertible with Mat and Nutpe
(see pp. 346, 347). And then Apuleius proceeds: *'My
divinity, uniform in itself, is honoured under numerous forms,
XL\'
Isis.
'^7~V//
Serapis.
ANUBIS. 351
various rites, aiul different names. . . . but the sun-illumed
Ethiopians, and the Egyptians renowned for ancient lore,
worship me with due ceremonies, and call me by my real
name, * Queen Isis.' " Plutarch considers Isis to be the earth,
the feminine part of nature, while Diodorus says that the
Egyptians, considering the earth to be the parent of all things
born, called her Mother, just as the Greeks called earth
Demeter.
ANUBIS,
With Hor, or Horus, and Har-pi-chruti, or Harpocrates,
were the children of Osiris and Isis. The first was a jackal-
headed god ; and, according to another myth, was the son of
Osiris and Nephthys, a sister of Isis, who, fearing the jealousy
of Isis, concealed the child by the sea-shore. The office of
Anul»is was to superintend the passage of souls to their abode
in the unseen world. As such he corresponded to the Greek
Hermes Psychopompos. Anubis presided over tombs; and
he is frequently introduced in sculpture as standing over abler
on which a corpse is deposited. Horus was a hawk-headed
god. As the avenger of his father Osiris, who was slain by
Typhon, he was identified by the Greeks as Apollo. He also
corresponded in some degree to the sun-god Ra, and was
worshipped by the Egyptians as representing the vivifying
power of the sun. Harpocrates seems to be merely another
version of Horus — he is a personification of the sun. He is
represented as a child sitting on a lotus flower, with his finger
on his lips. Under this figure he was thought of as the god
of silence. Perhaps in placing a representation of him in
front of each of their temples, the ^yise Egyptians meant to
352
THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
symbolize the fact that worship ought to be conducted with
silence.
THOTH
Was the god of letters, the clerk of the under-world, and"^e
keeper of the records for the great judge Osiris. He is rep-
resented with the head of an ibis, and bearing a tablet, pen,
and palm-branch. So great was the respect in which the
sacred ibis was held — on account, no doubt, of its usefulness
in destroying venomous reptiles — that any one guilty of kill-
ing it was himself punished with death.
ANOUKE
Was the third member of the trinity of Northern Ethiopia,
the other two members being Sati and Neph.
THE SPHINX,
Unlike her Greek representative — who was a cruel monster
born of the evil powers Typhon and Echidna — was a benefi-
cent being who personified the fruit-bearing earth, and, like
the sun and sky powers we have named above, was a deity of
wisdom and knowledge. Her figure — lion-bodied, with the
head and breast of a woman — was placed before every temple.
The Egyptian Cerberus, or hell watch-dog, must have been a
more forbidding and strange-looking animal than his Greek
brother. He had the trunk and legs of a hippopotamus, with
the head of a crocodile.
INDEX.
A.
Ahas, 212, 213
Ahtlcra, 255
Abderos, 255
Absyrtos, 275
Achxans, 206, 239
Acheloides, 149
AchcliJos, 149, 151, 264
Acheron, 59
Achilles, 60, 81, 147, 158, 167,
176, 203, 233, 251, 289, 290,
291, 292', 293, 294,^95, 296, 297,
298
Admetos, 106, 262, 270, 272
Adonaia, Adonias, 86
Adonis, 86, 317
Adrastea, 29, 186
Adrastos, 277, 278, 279, 281
vEakos, 62
JEetes, 274, 275
TEgeus, 239, 241, 266, 268, 275
^f^ina, 71, 84, 85, 128, 219
^gipanes, 137
./'Egisthos, 245. 301, 302
v*:gle, loS, 157
iligyptos, 211, 212
y^2ello, 190
iEneas, 86, 95, 285, 301
yEolians, 206
^olos (wind god), described, 163;
195
^olos, 271, 305
^rope, 244
iEschylus, I, 14, 68, 231, 325
-^sculapfus, see Asklepios
JEmt, 312, 313
iEsou, 2^1
iEther, 22, 193
23
Ethiopia, 216
^thon, 67
iEthra, 154, 265, 286
yt^tna, 82
Agamemnon, III, 189, 245, 285,
286, 287, 289, 290, 292, 293,
296, 298, 301, 302, 303
Aganippe, 157
Agathodacmon, 197
Agaue, 226, 227
Agenor, 118, 211, 225, 240
Aglaea, 174, 175
Aglauros, 236
Agiii, 333^ 334, 337
Agriegentum, 241
Agrotera, 1 10
Ahi, 331
Ahoma, Dahana, 345, 346
Ahriman, 342
Aides, Aidoneus, see Hades
Ais, Aides, Aidoneus, see Hades
Ajax, 203, 295, 297
Akrisios, 213, 215, 217, 218, 323
Aktree, 147
Aktceon, in, 226
Alekto, 28, 190
Alexander the Great, 115
Alexr.ndros, see Paris
Alkceos, 218
Alkamcnes, 77
Alkestis, 262
Alkinotis, 306
Alkippe, 237
Alkmxon, 278
Alkmcne, 39, 48, 218, 246
Alkyoneus, 43
Aloeus, 76, 209
Alphabet (Phoenician), 224
353
354
INDEX.
Alpheios, 114, 151
Alsei'ds, 153
Altha:a, 173, 269, 270
Amalthea, 29
Amarynthia, 114
Amazons, 223, 256, 268, 295
Ammon, Amum, 2i6
Amor, see Eros
Amorettes, Erotes, 171
Amphianax, 213
Amphiaraos, 278, 280, 281
Amphion, 126; legend of, 227,
247
Amphitrite, described, 55; 147, 14S
Amphitr)'on, 218, 246, 247
Amun, see Ammon
Amykloc, 99, 285
Amyklas, 99
Amykos, 273
Amymone, 52, 211, 250
Anadyomene, 85
Ananke, see Fate
Ananta, 339
Anar, see Onar
Anchirrhoe, 211
Anchises, 86, 301
Ancile, 78
Androgens, 241
Andromache, 294, 301
Andromeda, 51, 216, 217, 218, 219
Anka^os, 270
Anouke, 352
Antaios, 52, 262
Anteia, 222
Anteros, 87, 169, 171
Anthesteria, 120
Antigone, 231, 277, 279, 282
Antiope, 228, 229, 269
Antium, 179, 183
Anubis, 347, 351
Aoede, 158
Apaturia, 82
Apeliotes, 164
Apellcs, I
Aphrodite, Venus, 10, 17, 24, 39,
77; described, 83; 97, 125, 130,
135. 147, i(Ji, 168, 169, 170,
»7i, 172, 173. 174, 175. I7^>,
I77» 187, 195, 207, 226, 273,
283, 284, 285, 286, 346
Aphrodite Pandcmos, 85
Apis, Mnevis, Onuphis, 348, 350
Apollinarian games, 107
Apollo, 10, 15, 16, 20, 24, 39, 43,
53, 61, 72; described, 96, 108,
109, III, 112, 123, 124, 125, 127,
130, 135. i3^> 152, 153, 158,161,
172, 177, 178, 179, 181, 190, 202,
209, 215, 228, 229, 234, 238, 252,
256, 263, 269, 278, 283, 292,
297, 299, 302, 303, 313, 351
Appius Claudius, 187
Arabia, 21 1
Arcadia, 6, 52, 66, IIO, 112, 136,
213, 250, 252
Archcmoros, 280
Archimedes, i
Areopagus, 77, 237, 303
Ares, Mars, 10. 39, 47; de-
scribed, 75; 80, 87, 90, 125,
138, 168, 187, 209, 220, 224, 226,
237, 243, 253, 256, 307, 334
Arethusa, 114, 151, 157
Argeiphontes, 125
Arges, 27
Argiope, 235
Argo, 54,271
Argolis, 177
Argonauts, 53, 54, 91, 150, 191,
204, 209, 242, 253, 268
Argonautic expedition, 235, 269
Argos, 125, 210, 211
Argos, district of, 47, 48, 51, 52,
87, 190, 221, 222
Argos, heroes of, 210; 219, 245,246
Ariadne, 120, 241, 267
Arion, 52, 67, 119, 281
Aristceos, 226, 234
Arsinoe, 86
Artemis, Diana, 10, 24, 39, 61,
70, 100, 104; described, 109;
151, 152, 178, 190, 224, 226,
229, 252, 253, 290, 303
Arval brothers, 307
Asa Bridge, 312
A;a folk, 310,312, 316
Asgard, 312, 313, 345
Ash, 312
A ;\\nios, 86, 301
Asklepia, 179
Asklepios, ^Esculapius, 104, I06;
described, 178; 1 8 1, 182, 233
INDEX.
355
Asopos, 151, 219, 228
Astartc, 84, 210, 239
Astcria, 70
Astcrion, 240
Astnca, l)ike, 39, 44, 128
Astrwos, 164, 1C6
Astyanax, 294
Atalanta, iii, 270, 27S
Ale, 1 88, 189
Alhamas, 149, 226, 272
Athene, Pallas, Minerva, 10, 24,
39. 43.47. 5». 73. 75. 82, 86, 87;
described, 88; 1 13, 125, 135, 157,
175, 183, 1S7, 192, 207, 208,
212, 215, 216, 217,218, 222, 225,
226, 236, 237, 249, 283, 284, 292,
298, 299, 303, 335, 345, 346
Athens, 6, 28, 40, 69, 77, 92,
93, 94, loi, 113, 114, 119,
128, 129, 157, 164, 165, 169, 173,
174, 176, 186, 190, 239, 241, 275
Athor, 346
Athos, 165
Atlantids, 154
Atlxs, 121, 154, 156, 216, 258
Atli, 324. 325
Atreus, 244, 286
Atroix>s, 185, 269
Attica, 31, 51, 66, 67, 92, 119, 176,
20S, 232; lejjcnds of, 236; 239,
241, 205, 279
Attis, 34
Audhum))la, 311
Auj^eian Stables, 253
Augeias, 253, 254
Augurs, 139
Aui^ustus, 134
Auka, 343
Aulis, III, 288, 2S9, 290
Auloniads, 153
Aura, 167
Aurora, see Eos
Austri, 311
Autonoe, 226
Auxo, 175
Avatars of Vishnu, 339
Avenius, 58, 71
B.
Baal, 346
Bakchos, Bacchus, see Dionysos
Baldr, 312, 313, 316
Bali, 317
Battos, 123
Baukis, 38
Bellero])h()n, 92, 166, 204; de-
scribed, 221 ; 248
Belleros, 222
Bellonarii, 1 88
Bclos, 211, 225
Bcrekuntia, ^i
Bhavani, Pracrili, 338
Bias, 214
Bifrons, 133
Bifrust, 312, 319
B<votia, 52, 157, 169, 173, 174, 225
Boiotos, 59
Biir, 311
Boreas, 131, 164, 165, 166, 191,
196, 238, 256, 273, 274
Borghild, 323
Bori, 311
liragi, 313.318,319
Brahm, 336, 337, 33S
Brahma, 336; described, 337; 338,
343
Brahmanism, 327
Branchida;, 103
Brauronia, 1 14
Breidablick, 312, 316
Briareus, 26
Briseis, 176, 292
Britomarlis m
Bromio^, 117
Brono, 316
Brontes, 26
Bronze Age, 44, 1 28, 242
Brynhild, 317, 324, 347
Bubastis, 345
Bubastus, 345
Buddha, 340
Buddhism, 327
Busiris, 262
C.
rndmus, see Kadmos
C uiibyses, 349
Campania, 83
Canens, 139
Capitoline Hill, 33
Cappadocia, 218
35 6
INDEX.
Carthage, 85
Danaides, 61, 213
Cassandra, 103
Danaos, 52, 211, 212
Caucasus, 82, 207
Daphne, 113
Centaurs, 231, 232, 233,
268
Daphnephoria, loi
Cerberus, 58, 248, 352
Dardanos, 178
Ceres, see Demeter
Dei'aneira, 264, 265, 324
Cerigo, see Cytherea
Deidamia, 232, 288
Chalkeia, 82
Deimos, 76
Chaos, 30, 193
Deino, 193
Charis, 83
Deioneus, 232
Charites, Graces, 39, 47
,86,
130,
Deiphobe, 103
161, 171 ; described,
nz;
176,
Delia, 105
186, 208
Delos, 82, 102, 104, 269.
Charitesia, 175
Delphi, 6, 15, 16, 17, 30, 97, loi,
Charlemagne, 309
102, 103, 104, 105, 214, 225,
Charon, 58, 122
238, 263, 302
Cheiron, Chiron, 179,
233»
251,
Delphinia, loi
289
Delphinion, loi
Chimera, 222
Delphinios, loi
Chiron, see Cheiron
Demeter, Ceres, 5, 10, 24, 29, 33,
Chloris, Flora, 1 31, 165
39, 52, 57, 61, 63; described,
Chrysaor, 216
65; 71, 120, 150,172, 192,243,
Chryse, 292
345, 350, 351
Chryseis, 292
Demigods, 200
Chryses, 292
Demosthenes, i
Chrysippos, 244
Deukalion, 44, 206, 271
Circe, 139, 305
Dia, 176, 231
Compitalia, 199
Diana, see Artemis
Corinth, 6, 16, 49, 85,
87,
"3,
Diana of Ephesus, 114, 115, 224
120, 213; legends of, 2
.19;
230
Dike, Astra^a, 44, 131, 186
Cretan Bull, 254
Diktynna, in
Crete, 29, 30, 31,49* 66,
III,
149,
Diktys, 215, 217
169, 174, 236; legends
of,
Dindumene, 2)3
239
Diomedes, 75, 95, 255, 298, 299, 301
Crimea, 6, 113
Dione, 5, 39, 85
Cumse, 58, 103
Dionysia, 120
Cumsean Sibyl, 103
Dionysos, 18, 43, 48, 69, 80, 81 ;
Cupid, see Eros
described, 117; 135, 136, 137,
Cyparissus, 143
140, 141, 144, 145, 148, 152, 154,
Cyprus, 85, 86, 87
171,172,173,202,213,226,227,
Cyrene, Kyrene, 99, 262
^^5 „ _
Cytherea, island of, 85
Dioskuri, 285, 286
Cythere, 85, 87
Dirre, see Krinys
l:)irke, 228, 229
D.
Discordia, see Eris
Dithyrambos, 1 1 7, I18
Dpedalos, 241, 242
Dodona, 36, 84, 155
Demons or Genii, 197,
198,
203,
Dodonids, 155
204
1 )onar, see Thor
Damastcs, 266
Doorga, Kali, 320, 338
Dande, 214, 215, 217
Doridcs, 146, 147, 154
INDEX.
357
Dorians, 206, 239
Epimenides, 103
Dons, 55, 146
Epimetheus, 208
Dr>ad,s 25. 153
Eixjpcus, 228
Dwarves, 315, 320
Erato, 147, 161
Dwergina:il-Zwer^sprache, 321
Erebos, 22, 184, 186, 193
Dyaus, 327; described, 328; 329,
Erechtheum, 94
33^
Erechtheu-s, 237, 238, 265, 269
Dynaraene, 147
Ergane, 92
Erichthonios, 82, 92, 237
E.
Eridanus, loS
Echidna, 249, 331, 352
Erinys, Euinenides, Semnx, Furice,
Echion, 227
28, 52, 64, 186; described, 189;
Echo, 155
190, 192,234,303,327
Edda, 310, 312, 325
Eriphyle, 278
Ei^'pt, Reli;::ion of, 341
Eris, Discordia, 76, 187, 283
Eileithyia, Eleutho, 48, 112
Erl-Kiinig, 320
Eirene, Pax, 13 1 ; described, 1S4
Eros, Cupid, Amor, 22, 86; de-
Elektra, 162, 191,302
scribed, 168; 173
Elektr>-on, 218
Erotidia, 169
Eleusinia, 68
Erymanthian boar, 250
Eleusinian Mysteries;, 57, 64, 68,
Erymanthos, 250
69, 120
Erysichthon, 66
Eleusis, 6, 10, 66, 68, 69, 172, 2 ?7,
Erytheis, 157
266
Eteokles, 230, 277, 27S, 2S0
Eleutherx, 228
Eteoklos, 278
Eleutho, see Eileithyia
Euboea, 49, 1 14
E^lfheim, 312, 320
Euclid, I
Elis, 16,45,47, 93, 112, 243
Eumenides, see Erinys, 1S7, 190,
Elis and Argos, legends of, 243
279, 303
Elpis, 172
Eumolpos, 69, 237
Elves, 320
Euneike, 1 47
Elysion, 60, 196, 227
Euneos, 273, 2S0
Emathion, 167
Eunomia, 131
Embla, 312
Euphrosyne, 174
Enaijonios, 123
Euripides, i, 197
Endymion, 114
Europa, 225, 239, 240, 242
Enijx^us, 271
Euros, 164, 166
Enkelodos, 43, 91
Eur)-ale, 191
Enyalios, 187
Eurybia, 27
Enyo, Bellonia, 187, 193
Eurydikc, 153, 234, 316
Eos, Aurora, 111,164; described,
Eurynome, 39, 80, 174, 189, 316
165; 319.334,346
Euryphassa, 316
Epaphos, 107, 210, 211
Eurypylos, 298
Ejieios, 299
Eur^'stheus, 244, 246, 247, 248,
Ephesus, 115
250, 251, 255, 256
Ephialtes 43. 76, 209, 231
Eur)'tion, 232
Epicurus, I
Eur)tos, 235, 248
Enidauros, 179, 266
Euterpe, 160
Epigoni, wife of Asklepios, iSo
Epigoni, 277, 2S2
F.
Epimelios, i:;6
Fafnir, 323, 324
358
■ INDEX.
Farbanti, 319
Graeae, 193, 215
Fate, 39; described, 184
Gram, 322, 323
Fatuus, see Faunus
Gredr, 318
Fauna, Fatua, 138; described,
140;
Gudrun, 322, 324
142, 143
Gulltopr, 319
Faunalia, 138
Gunnar, 317,324
Faunus, Fatuus, 138, 139, 140,
141
Gyes, see Gyges
Fays, 140
Gyges, Gyes, 26
Fenris, 318, 319, 320, 332
Gyrton, 231
Flamen pomonalis, 132
Flora, see Chloris
H.
For-seti, 313
-J
Fortuna, See Tyche
Hades, Aides, Pluto, 10, 36
43»
Freija, Frigg, 312, 314, 315
50; described, 56; 62, 63
,66,
Freyr, Fro, 313,317,318
129, 189, 215, 216, 220,
232,
Frigg, see Freija
305, 347
Fulla, Volla, 315
Haemon, 282
Furise, see Erinys
Hasmos, 235
Halie, 147
G.
Halirrhotios, 237
Haloa, Thalysia, 67
Gaea, Ge, Tellus, Terra, 5, 22
,26,
Hamadryads, 131, 153
28, 30, 33, 82, 127, 140,
145,
Hamund, 323
146, 162, 188,237
Harrnonia, 158, 226, 283
Galatea, 147
Harpe, 216
Galaxaure, 154
Harpokrates, 351
Galene, 147
Harpys, 162; described, 19OJ
253
Gamelia, 48
Hastinapur, 325
Ganesa, 339
Hebdomeios, 102
Ganges, 20, 339
Hebe,Tuventas,39: described.
176;
Ganymeda, 176
265
Ganymedes, 177; described, i
78
Hebros, 235
Ge, see Gaea
Hecate, 43; described, 70 j 140
Gerda, 317
Hegemone, 175
Geryon, 256
Heimdall, 313, 319
Geryoneus, 216, 256
Hekabe, Hekuba, 283
Giants, 22, 28, 43, 53, 91, 93,
145,
Hekate, see Hecate
148, 188, 202, 231
Hekatombreon, 41
Ginki, 310
Hekatoncheires, 26, 27, 30
Ginnunga gap, 311
Hektor, 76, 84, 291, 293, 294,
295.
Gioll, 312
301
Gladsheim, 312
Hel, 312, 320
Glauke, 147, 275
Hela, 312
Glaukopis, 93
Helena, 186, 284, 285, 286,
287,
Glaukos, 103; described, 220
291, 298, 301
Gmir, 321
Helcnos, 284, 297
Golden Age, 44, 128
Helgi, 314,323
Gorgons, 91, 191, 193, 216
Hcliades, 108
Gorgophonc, 91
Heligoland, 314
Gortys, 239, 240, 241
Hclikon, 157, 158, 173
Graces, see Charites
Heliopolis, 346, 348
INDKX.
359
Helios, S<il, 51, 77 ; descrihed, 96;
109, 114,165,166,240,274,331,
345
Helle, 272
llcllcn, 206, 271, 272
llcllcs{)onl, 135, 203
Hemera, 22, 193
Hephivslos, Vuluin, 24, 27, 39, 43,
47, 77 ; descrilHjd, 79; 87, 89,
125, 175, 207, 208, 226, 237, 242,
294, 296, 315, 333.343
Hem, Here, jun<>, 5, 10, 24, 29, 3^,
39, 40,43; described, 46-49; 50,
51. 50. 75. 79. ^7.9». »04» 118,
125, 130, 140, 149. 156, 162,
168, 176, 177, 185, 210, 212;
image of, 2 1 3 ; 2 14, 2 1 8, 2 1 9, 232,
246,247,249, 255,256,271,283,
284, 344
Herakk-s, Hercules, 39,42, 43, 47,
52, 58, 76, 91, 104, 1 16, 126, 148,
156, 169, 177, 204, 207, 209,
218, 220, 223, 233, 242, 245, 246;
the choice oi\ 246, 247; legends
of, 248; 265, 266, 267, 268, 272,
2S9, 290, 297, 324, 327
Hercules, see Herakles
Hemiae, 126
Hermaphrotlitos, 87
llennajKjUo, 135
Hermathene, 135
Hermes, Mercury, 18, 20, 24, 38,
39, 63, 104, 118; described,
121; 134, 13<J. 140, 144. 152, 153.
162, 168, 1<>9, 175, 183, 199, 208,
209, 210,211,212,215,217,227,
232, 236, 246, 294, 330, 349
Herodotus, I, 16, 342
Heroes, described, 200
Herostratos, 115
Hei-se, 236, 237
Hesioa, 17, 22, 23, 36, 158,203,310
Hesione, 51, 53
Hesjxire, 157
Hesperides, 156, 248
Hesperides, Ciarden of, 156, 258
Hesperis, 156
Hcslia, Vesta, 24, 29, 33 ; described,
71; 78, 143
Hialprck, 323
Hilareira, 2S5
Himeros, 86, 17 1
Himinbiorg, 312
Hippia,93
Hipjx), 154
Hipix)damcia, 243, 244
Hippodromes, 221
Hipj-H)ko()ntidcs, 263
Hippokrene, 157
Hipjx)lochos, 224
Hippolyte, 256, 268
Hippolytos, 87
Hipponoos, 27S
Hippotes, 163
Hjordis, 323
H6dr, 313,316,317
Homer, 1,17, 22, 46, 50, 76, 81,
158, 248
Hur.e, 39, 47, 86, 128; described,
129; 161, 184, 208
Horatius Codes, 308
Horus, 347, 351
llresvelgr, 321
Hrimthursen, 321
Hrungnir, 321
Ilunding, 323
Hunin, 314, 315
Hunland, 324
Hyads, 154
Hyakinthia, 99
Hyakinthios, 99
Ilyakinthos, 99
Ilyas, 154
Hygiea, Hygieia, Hygea, iSo; de-
scribed, 181 ; 182
Hylreos, 137
llylas, 273
Hymen, Hymenceos, 87 ; described,
172
Hyperlx)reans, loi, 104, 252
Hyperion, 27, 107, 165
Hypermnestra, 212, 213
Hypnos, Somnus, 194
Hypsipyle, 273, 280
I.
Ireland, 20, 309, 310
Ida, 46, 153,178,283,301
Ida (nymph), 29
Idas, 27c, 2S5
360
INDEX.
Idomeneus, 286, 301
Iduna, 319
Ikaros, 119, 242
Ikelos, 195
Iliad, 46, 50, 51, 76, 83, 175, 177,
194, 203, 276, 321, 322
Ilion, see Troy
Ilithyia, see Eileithyia
Illyrium, 227
Inibros, 126
Inachos, 210
Indra, described, 329; 330, 331,
332, 334, 33^, 342
Ino, 149, 226, 272
Inuus, 137
lo, 48, 107, 125; described, 210;
214, 218
lobates, 213, 222
lolaos, 250
lole, 264
lolkos, 231, 270, 271, 272, 275
Ion, 237; legend of, 238
lonians, 206
Iphigeneia, 12, ill, 290, 292, 303
Iphikles, 247
Iphimedeia, 209
Iphis, 278
Iris, 47; described, 162; 265, 287
Iron Age, 44
Isandros, 224
Isfeudyar, 317
Isis, Mut, 344, 345, 346; de-
scribed, 350
Ismene, 231, 277
Ismenios, loi
Isthmian Games, 16, 220
Isthmus of Corinth, 16, 54, 266, 275
Itanos, 239
Ithaka, 163, 306
Itys, 238
Ixion, 61, 231, 232
J.
Jacchos, see Dionysos
Janita, see Dyaus
Janus, 32; described, 132
Janus, Temple of, 184
Japetos, 27, 207
Jardanos, 239
Jasion, 66
Jaso, 181
Jason, 233, 270, 271, 279
Jokaste, 229, 230, 231, 277
Jotunheim, 311, 312
Julius Caesar, 198
Julius, see Askanios
Juno, see Hera
Junones, 49
Jupiter, see Zeus
Juventas, see Hebe
K. .
Kadmilos, Kasmilos, 126
Kadmos, 6, 118, 149, 158; legend
of, 224; 228
Kaineus, 232
Kalai's, 191
Kalchas, 289, 290, 292
Kali Yuga, 337, 338
Kalki Avatara, 340
Kalliope, 160, 172, 234
Kallirrhoe, 154, 1 78
Kalliste, no
Kallisto, 113
Kalydon, 76, 269, 270
Kalydonian Hunt, 76, 269
Kalydonian Boar, 76, IIO, 269
Kalypso, 154, 306
Kamadeva, 339
Kapaneus, 278, 280
Karneia, 98
Karneios, 98
Karpo, 129
Kassandra, 283, 284, 297, 301,
302
Kassiepeia, 216
Kastalia, 157
Kastor, 227, 270, 272, 285
Kekropia, 236
Kekrops, legend of, 236, 238
Kelceno, 191
Keleos, 66
Kephalos, 166, 167
Kepheus, 216, 217, 218, 263
Kephissos, 151, 155
Kerl)eros, see Cerberus
Kerkyon, 266
Keryneian Stag, 250, 252
Kcryx, 236
Keto, 191, 193
INDEX.
36«
Khem, 344
Labyrinth, 241, 267
Khuns, 344
Lachesis, 185
Kilix, 225
Ladon, 156, 252
Kirke, see Circe
Laertes, 287
Kithxron, 153, 229, 230, 247
Laios, 229, 230. 277, 323
Kleitos, 166
Laked.-emon, 270
Kleta, 175
Lakonia, 112
Klio, 159
Lakshmi, 339
Klotho, 185
Lnmpetia, 108
Klytxmnestra, 189, 190,
2S5,
Lampsakos, 135
290
Laodaiiiia, 224
Klytios, 43
Laokoon, 299, 300
Knidos, 85
Laomedon, 53, 98, 106, 262
Knosos, 239
Lapithae, 231, 232
Koios, 27
Lara, 199
Kokalos, 242
Lar, Lares, 198, 199
Kolchis, 191, 204, 271, 274, 275
Lararium, 198
Kolonos, 190, 279
Larisa, 213, 218
Komana, 187
Larvx, 199
Komos, 142
Latona, see Leto
Kopo, loi
Latium, 133, 138
Kora, see Persephone, 63
Learchos, 272
Koronides, I78
Leda, 285
Koronis, 178
Leirnoniads, 153
Kurybantes, 34
Lemnos, 79, 81, 82, 120, 126, 207,
Kos, 43, 263
208, 273, 280, 290, 298
K ottos, 26
Lemures, 199
Kreios, 27
Lenaea, 120
Kreon, 275, 279, 281, 282
Lerna, 52, 21 1
Kreta, see Crete
Lernxan Hydra, 249, 250
Krcusa, 238
Lesbos, 235
Krishna, 340
Lethe, 59
Krommyon, The Boar of, 266
Leto, I^tona, 39, 61, 70, 100, 104,
Kronia, 31
107. 215
Kronion, Kronoides, 36
Leukippos, 2S5
Kronos, 18, 26, 27, 28; described,
Leukophryne, 116
29.30, 31. 32, 33.39.42,44
.50,
Leukosia, 150
57,60,65, 71. 189, 203,328,346
Leukothea, described, 149; 226, 306
Kuretes, 29, 34
Libera, 63, 69
Kumia, 339
Libitina, Lubentina, 65
Kuvera, 339
Libya, 211, 216, 22$
Kybele, Kybebe. ^^, 136, 140,
H3
Lichas, 264
Kyklopes, 22, 26, 27, 30, 106,
304,
Ligeia, 150
306
Limnads, 154
Kykhos, 76, 108
Limnaia, 113
Kyllenios, 123
Limoniads, 153
Kypsclos, 196
Linos, 247
Kyzikos, 273
Lipara Islands, 163
Lips, 164
I^
Litoe, 1 89
Labdakos, 227, 22S, 229, 237
Loki, 316, 317, 319, 320
362
INDEX.
Lucifer, 168
Lucina, 49, 347
Luna, see Selene
Lupercalia, 138, 307
Lupercus, 137
Lutinus, 135
Lyasos, 117
Lydia, 144, 263
Lykia, Lycia, 102, 213, 221, 222, 243
Lykios, 102
Lykomedcs. 269, 288
Lykos, 228, 229, 239
Lykurgos, (lef^islator), 113, 240
Lykurgos (king), 119, 256, 279
Lynlceus, 212, 213, 270, 285
M.
Machseon, 285
Mxnads, 235
Mahabharata, 321, 325, 336
Maia, 39, 1 2 1, 140
Manes, 199
Marathon, 204, 255, 267
Mars, see Ares
Marspiter (Mars Pater), 77
Marsyas, 106
Maruts, 330, 334
Mat, 346, 350
Mater Turrita, 34
Matronalia, 49
Matsya, 339
Maut, 345
Mechanitis, 93
Medea, 242, 265, 274, 275, 322,
325
Meditrina, 181
Meditrinalia, 181
Medusa, 52, 91, 191, 192, 215, 216,
217, 219, 221
Megjera, 28, 190
Megapenthes, 218
Megara, 239
Mekone, 207
Melampos, 214
Mclamion, 278
Melcagros, 76, ill, 269,270,272
Melete, 158
Melia, 210
Melian Nymphs, 28
Melikertes, 149, 220, 272
Melolosis, 154
Melpomene, 159
Memnon, 81, 167, 296
Memphis, 343
Menelaos, 245, 285, 286, 287, 299,
301
Menoetios, 288
Menoikcus, 229, 281
Mercury, see Hermes.
Merope, 220
Mcssene, 270
Mcssenia, 99, II2
Mctageitnia, loi
Mcthymna, 119 '
Metion, 239
Metis, 30, 39, 89, 128
Midas, 35, 106, 136
Midea, 244
Midgard, 311, 3 1 2, 320
Miletus, 103
Mimir, 319
Minerva, see Athene
Minos, 62, III, 174, 204; legend
of, 240; 244, 254, 267, 269
Minotaur, 101,241,267 -
Minyai, 231, 247
Miolnir, 334
Mncme, 158
Mnemosyne, 27, 39, 157, 161, 314
Mncvis, see Apis, 348
Moloch, 31, 239
Molorchos, 249
Moera, Moerre, Parcoe, 128; de-
scribed, 184; 296
Moeragetes, 185
Momus, 195
Morpheus, 195
Mors, see Thanatos
Mosychlos, 80, 8 1
Mu, 346
Munin, 314
Munychia, 114
Musagetes, 104, 158
Museia, 157
Muses, 130, 149, 150; described,
157; 171, 174, 175. 177. 194,
226, 234, 235, 297
Museums, 159
Musi:)elheim, 311,321
Mut, see Isis
Mykencc, 210, 218, 244, 248, 251,
254, 255, 302
INDEX.
363
Myrmidons, 293
Myrrha, 87
Myrtilos, 244
Najjananda, 32 1
Naiafls, 154
Na|xv.x, 153
Naranaya, 337
Narasingha, 340
Narkissos, 155
Nxstrand, 312
Nauplia, 211
Nauplios, 211
Nau-sikiia, 306
Nausimcdon, 212
Nax<>s, 120, 267
Neith, Ncitha, 345, 346
Nclcus, 53, 272
Netnea, 249
Nemcan Games, 16
Nemoan Lion, 249
Ncmcsia, 186
Nemesis, 172; described, 186; 189
Ncoptolemos, 288, 297, 301
Ncph, Num, Nu, Nef, Cnouphis,
Ceuul)is, 343, 344
Nephele, 272
Ncphthys, 347. 35.1
N€i)tunc, see Poseidon
Nereids, described, 146,149,154,
216, 220
Nereus, 55, 145; described, 146;
154,257,331
Nesaie, 147
Nessos, 264
Nestor, 53, 287, 301
Neverita, 55
Nibl'.mgs, 317,321
Niflheim, 311, 312
Xike, Victoria, 93; described, 183
Nile, 211, 345
Niobe, 100, 229, 243
Nis:)s,239
Ncmios, loi, 126
Nordri, 311
N :>rncn, 321
Notus, 164, 166
Nox, seeNyx
Numa Pompilius, 73, 78, 134
Nuti)c, 346, 347, 350
Nyktcus, 228
Nympli.ua, 153
Nymphs, 28, 113, 137; described,
«5i
Nysa, 118, 144
Nyx, Nox, Ni^bt, 22,70, 184, 185,
189; descriJjed, 193; 1 96
O.
Octoljcr horse, 78
Odin, 311, 312; described, 313;
317, 322, 323, 324, 325
Odysseas, Ulysses, 60, 95, 149, 1 50,
163, 287, 288, 290, 296, 297,
298, 299, 300, 301 ; wanderings
of, 304
Odyssey, 59, 77, 203, 248, 276, 321,
322
QLchalia, 235, 264
Gidipos, 229, 230, 277, 279,
282
O^neus, 264, 269
CEnoma:os, 76, 176, 243, 244
CEnonc, 324
Giia, 264
Oj;res. 334
Oiax, 212
Oikles, 262, 278
OTleiis, see Ajax
Okeanids. 146, 1 54, 174
Okeanos, 22, 23, 27, 30, 39, 55,
58; d".cril)ed, 145; 148, 151,
154, 162, 186, 195, 210
Ok y pete, I9I
Olympia, 4, 6, lo, 40, 41, -48,
128, 244
Olympiads, 16, 42
Olympian Game-^, 16, 244
Olympos, 6, 10, 24, 25, 30, 42. 43.
44. 47, 7 1' 77. ^'^ '>^ i^'"^.
157, 158, 162, 166, 169, 174,
176, 177. 178, 179. iSS, 207, 209,
224, 22C-), 231 , 235, 246, 248, 296,
331. 345
Omphale, 263
<');iciroix)mpf/s, 122
Oneiros, 195
Onuphis, see Apis
Opheltes, 279
3^4
INDEX.
Ops, 32, 140
Orchomenos, 174, 247
Oreads, 25, 137, 153
Oreithyia, 165, 238
Orestes,! 13, 189, 190, 290, 302, 303
Orion, ill, 1 66
OiTnuzd, 342
Orpheus, 58, 150, 153, 228; legend
of, 234 J 272
Oschophoria, 269
Osiris, 343; described, 347; 348,
349> 350, 35^ y 3S2
Ossa, 209
Othrys, 30
Otos, 76, 209, 231
Ovid, 133
P.
Palsemon, 149
Palamedes, 126, 212, 288,290
Pales, 143
Palilia, 143, 307
Palladium, 73, 78, 95, 298, 300
Pallantides, 266
Pallas-Athene, see Athene
Pallas, brother of ^geus, 239, 266
Pallas, the Giant, 43, 183
Pan, 106, 135; described, 1365
138,144, 153, 155.344
Panathensea, 82, 93, 269
Panathenaic prize, vases, 93
Pandareos, 191
Pandion, 237, 239
Pandora, 208
Pandrosos, 236
Panes, Paniski, 137, 139, 141
Panic fear, 137
Panope, 147
Paphos, 87
Parcse, 128, 182, 185,269
Paris, 87, 283, 284, 285, 286,287,324
Pamassos, 44, 158, 206
Parthenia, 48
Parthenos, 93
Parthenope, 150
Parthenopseos, 76, 278
Pasiphiie, 240, 241, 242
Pasithea, 147, 175
r-atroklos, 203, 288, 289, 293, 295
Paul, St., 115
Pausanias, 42, 196
Pax, see Eirene
Pedasos, 292
Pegasos, 52, 92, 155, 166, 167, 192,
216, 221, 223
Peirene, 220, 221
Peirithoos, 231, 232, 268, 272
Peitho, Suada, Suadela, 86, 176
Peleus, 128, 147, 158, 187, 233, 262,
270, 272, 283, 288
Peliads, 153
Pelias, 53, 271, 275
Pelion, 153, 179, 209, 233, 251
Peloponnesos, 99, 179, 206
Pelops, 42, 243, 244 >
Pelos, 204
Penates, 198
Peneios, 6, 151
Penelope, 306, 307
Penthesilea, 295
Pentheus, 1 1 9, 227
Pephredo, 193
Pericles, I
Periklymenos, 263
Periphates, 266
Perkunes, Perune, 316
Perseis, 240, 274
Persephone, Proserpina, Kora, 18,
57, 62; described, 63; 65,
67, 68, 69, 70,86, 100, 129, 149,
170, 189, 220, 232, 234, 347, 350
Perses, 70, 2 18
Perseus, 91, 191, 192, 193, 204;
legend of, 215; 221, 246, 248
Persians, 92, 102, 165
Pessinus, 35
Phgeakians, 306
Phsedra, 241, 269
Phaenna, 175
Phcestos, 240, 242
Phaethon,-io7, 108
Phaethusa, 108
Phantasos, 195
Pheidias, I, 4, 42, 48, 77, 169
Pheme, Fama, 188
Pherce, 106, 262, 270
Pherusa, 147
Philammon, 235
Philemon, 38
Philoktetcs, 242, 290, 298, 301
Philomela, 237, 238
Phineus, 191, 217, 273
Phlius, 176, 177
INDEX.
365
Phobetor, 19$
rhobos, 76
rhcche, 285
rh(cl)Os, see Apollo
rhanicians, 31, 84, 239
Phoenix, 225, 240
Phokis, 302
Pholos, 251
Phorkys, 149, 19I, 193
Phoroncus, 206, 210
Phnxh, Pharaoh, 346
Phrixos, 272
Piciimnus, 139
Picus, 1 38, 139
Pierides, 157
Pieria, 157, 234, 235
Pieros, 157
I'ihimnus. 139
Pimpla, Pimplea, 157
Pindar, I, 3,68, 174
Pindos, 158
Pittheus, 265
Piataeae, 204
Plato, I
Pleiads, 154, 252
Pleione, 154
Plexaure, 154
Pluto, see Hades, and 18,29, 33,
149, 179, 220
Plutos, 66, 131
Podarge, 191
Podarkes, 263
Pteas, 242
Poena, i36
I'olias, 93
Pollux, see Poiydeukes
Pt)lybos, 230
Polybotes, 43
Polydektes, 215, 217, 248
Poiydeukes, Pollux, 227, 270, 272,
273. 285
Polydoros, 226, 227
PolyhyiDnia, Polymnia, 160
I'olyidos, 221
Polykleitos, 48
Polykrates, 49
Polyneikes, 230, 277, 278, 279, 2S0,
2S1
Polyphemos, 52, 305, 306
Polyphonte, 87
Pomona, 131, 132, 139
Pontios, 220
Pontes, 22, 146, 218
J'oqjhyrion, 43
Poseidon, Neptune, lo, 16, 24, 29,
33, 36, 43; described, 50; 57,
67, 72,85,89,92, 106, 118, 125,
146, 147. 148, 149, 154, 164,
191, 192, 211, 216, 219, 220,
222, 225, 228, 231, 233, 236,
237, 241, 243, 244, 254, 305,
306, 331
Potamia, 1 13
Potamids, 154
Pothos, 86, 171
Potiphar, 222
Prxneste, 183
Praxiteles, i, 169
Priamos, 263, 283, 30I
Priapos, Lutinus, 135
Prithivi, 339
Prodikos, 246
Projtos, 213, 214, 218, 222
Prokne, 237, 238
Prokris, 1 67
Prokrustes, 266
Prometheus, 81, 82, 89, 1 95, 204;
described, 205 ; 210, 233, 262
Proserpina, see Persephone
Proteus, 146
Prj'mno, 1 54
Psyche, 170, 171
Psychopompos, 122
Pthah, 343, 346
Pyanepsia, 269
Pygmalion, 86
Pylades, 302, 303
Pylos, 239
Pylos, Town of, 1 23, 263, 287
l^-rrha, 44, 206
Pythagoras, 14
Pythia, 102
Pythian Games, 16, 104
Pythios, 104, 105
Python, 97, 104, 105, 202
Quoasir, 332
Ra, Phra, 344, 345. 3S^
Rakhshasas, 331
Z66
INDEX.
Ramayana, 321, 340
Ranno, 344
Reate, 77
Regin, 323, 324
Reifriesen, 321
Reimthursen, Rime, or Frost, 31 1
Remus, 75, 77, 307
Rerir, 322
Rhadamanthys, 62, 240, 243, 247
Rhamnusia, 186
Rhea, Kybele, 27, 29, 31 ; described,
2,Z'y 57,65,71, I44>347
Rhea Silvia, 75
Rhodeia, 154
Rhodes, 99, 149
Rhodope, 235
Rhoetos, 43
River Gods, 151
Romulus 75, 77, 134, 247, 307
S.
Sabaeism, 346
Sabines, 134
Soecular Games, 62
Saga, 314
Sais, 345
Saivas, ^Z^
Salacia, 55
Salamis, 54, 93, 103
Salii, 78
Samnites, 187
Samos, 49, 169
Samothrace, 126
Saranyn, 327
Sarapis, see Serapis
Saraswati, 337
Sarpedon, 240, 243
Sati, 344, 345, 352
Saturnalia, 31, 32, 199
Saturnia, 32
Saturnus, 18, 29; described, 31,
32; 132, 133, 139, 143
Satyavrate, 339
Satyriski, 141
Satyrs, described, 141 ; 144, 145,
152, 153
Savitar, 332
Scopas, 169
Scutari, 273
Scylla, 306
S^^, 346, 347, 348
Selene, Luna, 70; described, 109;
165
Selinus, 192, 219
Semele, 39, 48, 118, 140, 149, 226,
227
Semnoe, see Erinys
Serapis, Sarapis, 350
Seriphos, 215, 216, 217
Servius Tullius, 74, 1 14, 1 16, 178
Seth, 347
Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World, 42
Sibyl, see Cumsean '
Sicily, 85, 99, 143, 163, 192, 219,
242
Sidon, 239
Siegfried, 248
Siggeir, 322
Sigi, 322
Sigmund, 317, 322, 323
Sigmund, Sigfusson, 310
Signi, 322
Sigurd, 317, 323, 324
Sikyon, 99, 207, 214, 228
Silenos, Sileni, 118, 141 ; described,
144
Silvanus, 141, 142, 143
Silver Age, 44
Sinis, 266
Sinon, 300
:[inope, 350
Sintians, 79
Sirens, described, 150; 306
Sirius, III
Sisyphos, 61 ; described, 219
Siva, Mahadeva, 336; described,
339
Skirnir, 317
Skyros, 2S8, 298
Sleipnir, 312
Smyrna, 186
Socrates, I, 17, 180
Sol, see Helios
Solymi,223
Soma, 332, 334
Somnus, see Hypnos
Sophocles, I, 231, 325
Soteira, 93
Sparta, 87, 98,99, 113, 157, 169,
174, 245, 284, 285
Spartae, 226, 227
INDEX.
367
Sphinx, 230; (Eg)'ptian), 352
Steropcs, 27
Sthcino, 191
Sthcnelxua, 213, 222
Sthenelos, 246
Strymon, 234
Styniphalian Birds, 250, 252
Stymphalos, 252
Styx, 58, 107, 162, 183
Suaila, Suadcla, see Peitho
Siulri, 311
Sulla, 103
Siirtr, 321
Surya, 331
Sybaris, 99
Symjilegadcs, 274
Syrinx, 136
Talos, 239, 242
Tantalos, 61, 229, 243
Tarentum, 99
Tarquin, 103
Tai-sos, 218
Taitaros, 1 8, 25, 30, Co, 70, 87,
145. 193. I94» 196, 213, 232,
243
Tauric Artemis, 113
Tauros, 190, 290, 302
Taygete, 252
Tcgea, 77
Teiresias, 60, 306
Telamon, 262, 295
Teleia, Tcieios, 48
Telemachos, 2S7, 306
Telephassa, 225
Telephos, 289, 290, 298
Tclesphoros, 181
Telcsto, 154
Tempo, 6. 52, 231
Tenedos, 149, 300
Tereus, 237, 238
Terminalia, 135
Terminus, 134
Terpsichore, 161
Terra, see Gaea
Tethys, 23, 27,55; described, 145.
Teutamias, 21S
Thalassio;, 173
Thalia, 159, 174
Thallo, 129
Thamyris, 235
Thanatos, Mors, 194, 196, 197
Thargclia, ICX)
Thargelios, 100
Thaos, 120
Thaumas, 162, 1 91
Thebais, 276
Thebe, 228
Thebes, 6, 76, 77, loi, 113, 118,
119, 128, 167, 224; legends of,
224, 247, 263
Thel)es, War against, 277
Thebes, Destruction of, 282
Theia, 27, 165
Themis, 27, 39, 105 ; described,
127; 129, 131, 1S5, 283
Thcmistocles, 103
Theophane, 52.
Theophania, 104
Theoxenia, 104
Thersites, 296
Theseium, 269
Theseus, 54, 91, 93, 176,204,223,
232, 239, 241, 245 ; legend of,
265, 270, 272, 275, 279, 286,
322
Thesmophoria, 67
Thesmophoros, 67
Thespiae, 169, 247
Thespios, 247
Thessaly, 24, 30, 52, 66, 106, 206,
217 ; legends of, 231
Thetis, 24, 47, 80, 128, 147, 153,
158,243,283,288, 294, 296
Thiassi, 321
Thoc, 147
Thor Donar, 312,313; described,
3^5' 321, SS^f 334
Thoth, 347, 352
Thrace, 144, 225 ; legends of, 233;
255
Thucydidcs, I
Thyene, 155
Thyestes, 244, 245, 301
Tir}'ns, 213, 218
Tisiphone. 28, 190
Titxa, 156
Titans, 22, 25, 26, 28, ^3* 42, 50.
137, 145, 200, 231
368
INDEX.
Tithonos, 1 66, 167, 296
Tityos, 61, 202
Triformis, 71
Trimurti, 336
Trinakia, 107, 306
Triptolemos, 66
Tritogeneia, Tritonia, 88, 89
Triton, described, 148; 150
Tritonis, 89
Trivia, 71
Troezene, 128, 157, 265
Troilos, 291
Troll weiber, 321
Tros, 178
Troy, Ilion, 91, 95, 106, ill, 178,
204, 245 ; war of, 283
Tyche, Fortuna, 182, 185
Tydeus, 277, 280, 296
Tyndareus, 263, 286
Typho, 343, 348
Typbon, Typboeus, 164, 249, 351,
352
Tyr, Ziu, 3i3» 3i8, 332
U.
Ullr, 313. 319
Ulysses, see Odysseus
Urania, 85, 87, 127, 160
Uranos, 18, 22; described, 26 ; 27,
28, 29, 33, 43. 85, 127, 145, 158,
168, 328
Usbas, 319, 335, 346
Vaisbnavas, 338
Valaskialf, 312
Vali, 313
Valkyrien, 321
Varuha, 339
Varuna, 328, 329, 332, 334
Vayu, 334, 336
Ve, 313
Vedas, 9, 337
Vedism, 327
Veneralia, 87
Venilia, 55
Venus, see Apbrodite
Vertumnus, 1 3 1, 132
Vesta, see Hestia
Vestalia, 75
Vestal Virgins, 73
Victoria, see Nike
Vikings, 309
Vingolf, 312
Visbnu, 316, 332, 334; described,
338
Vithar, 313, 319
Volsungs, 317, 321, 322
Volsung Saga, 324, 325
Vritra,33i, 332, 342
Vulcanalia, 83
W.
Walballa, 312, 314
"We, 311
Wetgam, 332
Westri, 311
Will, 311
Wind Gods, 164
Winds, Tower of, 165
Wodan, Wuotan, 313, 343
X.
Xenopbon, i
Xutbos, 238
Y.
Yggdrasil, 312, 319
Ymir, 311
Z.
Zendavesta, 311
Zepbyros, 99, 131, 164, 165, 166
Zetes, 191, 272
Zetbos, 227, 228, 229, 247
Zeus, Jupiter, 2, 4, 10, 14, 16, 17,
18, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, S3y 34,
described, 35-45 ; 46, 47, 48, 50,
51. 53» 56, 57^ 58, 63, 72, 75,76,
77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 88, 91,
93, loi, 104, 106, 107, 108,
113, 118,121, 122, 123,124, 125,
128, 129, 130, 131, 136, 147,
148, 149, 153, 154, 155. 157,
158, 162, 164, 166, 168, 176, 177,
178,179,180,182,183,184,185,
186, 188, 189, 190, 197, 202, 203,
206,207,208, 210, 212,214, 215,
218, 219, 220, 224, 226, 227, 228,
232, 235, 236, 239 240, 241, 242,
244, 246, 247, 249, 255, 313, 314.
315,328,329, 343
Zeuxis, I
Ziu, see Tyr
Zygia, 48
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